Employers on the A127 corridor stretching from Southend to east London should have a stronger say in skills training provided in the local labour market and business formation says new research, carried out at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Research at the University of Essex Southend campus.

Dr Bill Gleave, lecturer with the School of Entrepreneurship and Business and Professor Jay Mitra, Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship Research at the University have explored recent developments regarding the growth of industry and the changing profile of skills within the labour market of south Essex and the A127/A13 corridors. Their results will form the heart of a forthcoming workshop for local business people.

Using primary and secondary research, the research adopts a supply and demand-side approach to examine potential mismatches between the types of skills that employers in the area are demanding and those possessed by the workers themselves, with a view to making valid policy recommendations and contributing to a new skills agenda. Of particular importance is an assessment of the recommendations of the Leitch report on skills and their potential application in the region.

The workshop would be of particular interest to businesses, policy makers, providers of skills training, educators in higher and further education, researchers and students.

The free workshop on Friday 30 May at Ford Dunton Technical Centre, marks the end of the research project and the beginning of a process of dissemination, discussion and debate on issues regarding the development of a skills agenda for industry and business communities in south Essex and the A127 corridor.

For further information contact Dr Gleave, telephone 01702 328394 or e-mail: wgleave@essex.ac.uk.