NEWI: Lack of Factory Recruits Blamed on Coronation Street

NEWI: Lack of Factory Recruits Blamed on Coronation Street

WREXHAM, Wales, October 24/PRNewswire/ --

Under the influence of television programmes such as Clocking Off and Coronation Street, teenagers are deserting a career in manufacturing, branding the sector "boring, dirty and smelly" and claiming it is "hard work and badly paid."

So says a research report released today by the North East Wales Institute - they also believe that we are set to face a chronic skills shortage in manufacturing which is set to rise dramatically within the next five years.

Their comments are backed up by recent figures from the DfES which showed 23,000 graduates earned a degree in an engineering-related discipline in 1993, compared to a forecast of 13,600 students graduating in 2006 - an incredible 41% reduction in just nine years.

The North East Wales Institute believes the cliché of "working class people doing repetitive badly paid work at the mercy of an autocratic sexist boss" as portrayed on television is outdated and irresponsible. They point out that there are many different types of manufacturing such as aerospace, optical equipment, pharmaceutical and car production that are nothing like the television version of the sector.

They especially single out Coronation Street, which features Underworld, a knicker factory owned by Mike Baldwin, where key characters, such as Sean Tully, Fizz and Hayley Cropper are shown working in conditions that simply wouldn't be allowed in industry today. The Underworld factory is used as a backdrop nearly every week to a television audience of up to 12 million, with a high percentage of teenage viewers.

"Coronation Street has a huge impact especially with younger people. I believe, the way Underworld is portrayed is affecting our ability to attract students into manufacturing and engineering," said Professor Mike Scott, Principal and Chief Executive of the North East Wales Institute. "Factories wouldn't survive if they bullied workers and adopted the working practices as shown on television. We work with great UK manufacturers such as Airbus UK and Jaguar, but I'm very worried that we won't be able to keep supplying talented graduates in the future unless the image of manufacturing is improved."

Professor Scott continues "soaps are hugely influential and they know it. They should have a look at how clean and efficient most factories are now, and the real opportunities they offer for career advancement and international travel. I am begging the scriptwriters to consider making the factory more glamorous and successful. It would make a great storyline watching Danny Baldwin and Janice Battersby getting to grips with Lean Manufacturing techniques, or planning export tactics into other countries. If they did, they could really help us encourage teenagers and graduates into the industry."

The North East Wales Institute survey questioned 200 teenagers. The results are complemented by a previous survey conducted by The Manufacturing Foundation with 1,770 secondary school age children in the West Midlands[1].

For press information, please contact: Sue Nelson, Director +44-(0)7725-413610 s.nelson@newi.ac.uk

Olivia Bethencourt Research Analyst +44-(0)7725-413611 o.bethencourt@newi.ac.uk

Claire Huxley Research Analyst +44-(0)7725-413612 c.m.huxley@newi.ac.uk

Note to Editors:

The North East Wales Institute is based in Wrexham, North Wales, and has approximately 6,000 students (full and part-time) on over 200 programmes. It runs degree courses in Aeronautical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Performance Car Technology, Automotive Electronic Technology and an HNC in Aerospace Engineering.

MANUFACTURING QUESTIONNAIRE - the results

The North East Wales Institute (NEWI) has been concerned by the drop in students applying for engineering and manufacturing-related courses over the past couple of years. NEWI is based in Wrexham on the border of England and Wales, near Chester and surrounded by manufacturing. It has especially close links with Jaguar and Airbus.

At its Open Days during October 2005, they questioned 200 students aged 16 and 17 from North Wales and North West England, to find out their perceptions of engineering and manufacturing in general. They intended to use this in their marketing material and in the guidelines they send to careers teachers advising pupils on HE choices.

The 200 potential students were asked if they had considered a job in manufacturing. Whilst 96% of the girls said they had not, 61% of the boys said that they had.

They were also asked to spontaneously use words, which they associated with jobs in manufacturing. They could use as many words as they liked and add any other comments they had. Below are the percentage appearance of the words they chose:

Girls Boys 78% Boring 61% Interesting 48% Dirty 43% Well paid 41% Smelly 22% Badly paid 40% Badly paid 17% Fun 30% Hard work 15% Cool, mint, wicked 18% Well paid 14% Practical 15% Interesting 13% Exciting 11% For old people 9% Dirty 7% Hot 8% Smelly 7% Dangerous 5% Clean

Personal comments included, "you only got paid well if you are high up in the organisation" (only mentioned by girls), "it's a boys subject" and that it was "dull" and "repetitive".

When questioned further, some girls said that they had got their impressions from television, particularly Coronation Street - this was mentioned by some boys. However, the boys in general admitted that they simply didn't know that much about it, and weren't sure where there impressions had come from.

MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING - the fact file

- The Adult Learning Inspectorate report on engineering says that all manufacturers are set to experience acute shortages of high calibre skilled people.

- In 1997 in excess of 23,000 graduates earned a degree in an engineering-related discipline. 13,600 graduates are estimated to complete their engineering course in 2006 - a 41% reduction in engineering graduates in just nine years. [2]

- The EEF report "Catching up with Uncle Sam" found that 25% of all companies within manufacturing see recruiting high calibre staff as one of their main problems, this figure is set to rise dramatically. This is made worse by the perception that teenagers have of manufacturing. They say it is hard work, dirty, dangerous, boring, noisy and smelly. [3]

- Many service sector jobs depend on manufacturing - the CBI calculate that currently 2.4 million service industry jobs rely directly upon the manufacturing sector for their existence.

- In 2004 there were 3.3 million people employed in manufacturing in the UK - 13.% of the total workforce. [4]

- Output in manufacturing is up - from 1997 to 2001 productivity rose 13%.

- Whilst the workforce employed in the service sector continues to rise it is less productive - manufacturing is far more efficient than the service sector[5]. E.g. in the North West, 'Gross Value Added' per job in manufacturing is GBP40,600, compared with GBP25,800 in the service sector. [6]

References:

[1] "Manufacturing Our Future", The Manufacturing Foundation, October 2003

[2] Department for Education and Skills, (2003)

[3] Manufacturing Foundation, (2003)

[4] Skills England, (2004)

[5] Rowthorn & Ramaswamy, (1997)

[6] Office of National Statistics and Dept of Trade & Industry, Regional Competitiveness, (2002)

Source: NEWI (North East Wales Institute of Higher Education)

For press information, please contact: Sue Nelson, Director, +44-(0)7725-413610, s.nelson@newi.ac.uk. Olivia Bethencourt, Research Analyst, +44-(0)7725-413611, o.bethencourt@newi.ac.uk. Claire Huxley, Research Analyst, +44-(0)7725-413612, c.m.huxley@newi.ac.uk

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