Trading Posts: Can't Get the Staff...

We're in a recession, right? Unemployment figures are soaring, and there's lots of eager beavers out there job hunting. And yet today a report has been released by the CBI suggesting that London has a skills shortage which will damage the city's recovery. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills gets all defensive when pushed on the matter: they are providing vocational training, they say - but it is apparently the wrong sort of training. Londonist's trading friends concur: there are plenty of specialised courses on everything from computing to health and safety - but youngsters are coming out on to the job market now without basic life or social skills, and lacking a fundamental ability to concentrate. What the solution is remains far from clear - but it will take more than a few hours a week at the local college to fix. On a more upbeat note, the same survey, which is conducted bi-annually, found that many London businesses are optimistic for the future, happier about transport and impressed by Boris' success in improving London's professional image. (Image/buckaroo kid.)