'Financial services industry suffering skills shortage'
14/05/2008(16:44)
The financial services industry is suffering from a skills shortage due to the poor literacy and numeracy abilities of graduates entering the sector, it has been claimed.
In a survey by the Chartered Insurance Institute, 61 per cent of employers questioned said employees with degrees lack basic numeracy and grammar skills, while 57 per cent blamed the education system for failing to equip students with the necessary attributes for the financial services industry.
Some 75 per cent of employers also said they have a shortage of workers with the necessary technical skills - a five per cent increase from last year's survey.
CII president Lord Hunt remarked: "In this period of economic instability it is vital that we do not take our eye off the skills issue, tempting though that may be. Cuts to training budgets in order to make a quick saving will in the end prove to be a false economy.'
The survey involved 834 employers who are members of the UK CII and Personal Finance Society.
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