Where Are All the Workers?

The Briefing Room

• Episode: Where Are All the Workers?
• Website: The Briefing Room
• Feed URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07cblx9/episodes/downloads.rss
• Duration: 00:28:38
• Published: 2021-07-29 21:30

A supermarket chain is offering £1000 welcoming handshakes to new truck drivers - just one indication of the shortages in the haulage industry. The Road Haulage Association says that there is now a shortfall of 100,000 lorry drivers across the UK and other sectors of the economy are also finding it difficult to find workers, including in hospitality, construction and IT. The pandemic has shaken things up and Brexit has seen thousands of EU workers returning home - but is this a short-term problem or are there deeper structural changes happening? Joining David Aaronovitch in the Briefing Room: Dougie Rankine, editor of Truck and Driver magazine. Katherine Price, news editor of The Caterer. Tony Hill, Director of the Institute for Employment Studies. Yael Selfin, Chief Economist, KMPG UK. Torsten Bell, Chief Executive at the Resolution Foundation. Jane Gratton, Head of People Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce. Producers: John Murphy, Sally Abrahams and Kirsteen Knight. Sound Engineer: Graham Puddifoot Editor: Jasper Corbett