Filling skilled trades shortages remains a top priority for the world’s largest economies, according to Manpower’s 2010 Talent Shortage survey.

The survey shows that skills shortages remain in many of the world’s biggest economies, including the US, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Brazil, where employers ranked skilled trades as their number one or number two hiring challenge.

The report calls for long-term collaborative strategies to tackle shortages of skilled workers, including promoting positive attitudes towards skilled trades work and ensuring that the technical training workers receive reflect the current demands of industry so that an indigenous workforce may be created in the long term.

Jeffery A Joerres, Manpower chairman and CEO, says: “As the global recovery gathers pace, cultivating future talent and reducing the shortage of skilled workers is becoming vital to ensure economic growth. With high unemployment around the world, migration is an emotive subject, but strategic migration will be necessary to create a global workforce and alleviate the current shortage. Countries should be developing policies which facilitate positive migration to fuel economic growth through providing skilled workers where they are needed, rather than creating barriers to immigration.

“Inadequate training and negative stereotypes relating to skilled trades are further fuelling a dangerous shortage of skilled workers.

“Employers and governments need to bring honour back to the skilled trades. They must look ahead to forecast their future skill demands in this area and start working to alleviate this now. Unemployment levels remain high across the globe, particularly among young people, and providing training programs while working to promote skilled trades as a viable career choice could open up these jobs to a wider talent pool, as well as helping businesses tackle their shortages effectively.”