Jobs left unfilled due to lack of multi-lingual candidates, report shows
A group of MPs have called on government to take “sustained action across the UK to revive national competence in languages”.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Modern Languages called on all political parties to include a new ‘framework for national recovery in language learning’ in their 2015 general election manifestos. MPs said the framework would include pledges to “transform the reputation of UK citizens as poor linguists, reluctant to value languages other than English” and “actively encourage business and employers to get involved in tackling the crisis”. The group also suggested that employers could be offered tax incentives to recruit or train home-grown linguists.
The APPG call will come as welcome news to employers, who have reported language skills shortages. A survey by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills in 2013 found that almost one in five (17 per cent) vacancies left unfilled due to a lack of skills were empty because candidates specifically lacked foreign languages.
In addition, the CBI/Pearson Education and Skills Survey 2014, found that 65 per cent of firms reported that they required foreign language skills.
However, the UK lags far behind other countries in the EU for foreign language skills. In 2012, the European Commission’s European Survey on Language Competences found that just nine per cent of 14 to 15 year olds studying French were capable of using the language independently. By contrast, the comparative figure across the 14 countries in the survey was 42 per cent.
The European Commission also found that only 39 per cent of UK adults were capable of holding a conversation in a foreign language, compared to the EU average of 54 per cent.
Baroness Coussins, chair of the APPG, said: “The next government will need to take clear, urgent and coherent action to upgrade the UK’s foreign language skills. Otherwise our young people will continue to fall behind their European and global peers in education and employability; our export growth will be stunted; our international reputation will suffer and our security, defence and diplomacy needs will be compromised.”
Commenting on the lack of language skills in the UK, Mark Anderson, managing director at Pearson UK, added: "English is the international language of business which has clearly been a real benefit to UK business, but as a global company we understand that a company with employees who can communicate with some proficiency in the language of clients, customers and suppliers, has a big advantage in the fast-growing markets across the globe."