Bad news may sell papers, but when it comes to the UK economy all may not be as bad as it previously seemed. In fact, it might be time to stop talking recession and start looking towards growth.

Admittedly the sun isn’t yet shining from a clear sky but there are glimmers of hope piercing the earlier clouds of gloom. Take self-assessed income tax receipts, for example, which in January 2023 were the highest since records began in 1999. That helped public sector net borrowing in January to be in surplus by £5.4 billion, five billion more than previously forecast by the OBR.

Or take a look at the S&P monthly survey which in February revealed that both the manufacturing and service sectors signalled a “solid rebound in business activity during February.” And whilst the Institute of Director’s Economic Confidence Index for February came in at minus seventeen, that’s a lot better than the record low of minus sixty-four from November 2022.

So what do we need to do to be ready for a recovering economy? Well, the report which accompanied the latest IoD Index might give us some clues. Naturally the UK economy came top of the ‘areas of concern’ list, being cited by 51% of those surveyed. Energy costs were also of concern for 43% of businesses. But up amongst those headline figures, 49% of businesses were also worried about skills shortages.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at this. Such is the pace of change that there is no guarantee that skills learnt in the past will be relevant in the future. Even way back in prehistory, our ancestors will have had to reskill as new approaches and new ideas came to the fore. As we learnt to use fire, to hunt and to deploy flint arrows, or to start to use metals every development would have come with a need to share that knowledge across the group. 

Choosing the right skills

What this points to is the undeniable fact that some skills are far more valuable than others. Being able to think, to interpret, to gauge likely outcomes from a given scenario, and to communicate ideas and understanding are far more valuable than simply being able to push buttons in a set order. Yes, some training in processes and procedures may be required. But when individuals are already skilled in interpreting and understanding, any process-driven training is likely to be quicker and more in depth than when knowledge is simply shared.

Heraclitus understood that when writing some two and a half thousand years ago he commented that: “Much learning does not teach understanding.” And perhaps we should relearn this when we look at a lack of skills in the workforce. We are always going to have to teach the ‘how.’ But we might do better if we understand that we should first help our people to learn the ‘why.’