When published, it will reveal that 37 per cent of firms are not satisfied with the basic literacy and numeracy of school-leavers.
One day it will be good to report a survey of school leavers' attitudes to British bosses.
Perhaps it will start: "Seven out of four school- leavers are not satisfied with the basic hygiene and interpersonal skills of British bosses."
Meanwhile, back in so-called reality, the fine detail in the survey is more revealing than the trumpeted headlines. The CBI's survey will show that "the vast majority of employers - 83 per cent - believe the Government should focus on ensuring all young people leave school literate and numerate".
Work it out. That means 17 per cent aren't bothered whether kids leave school able to read and write. Which are these 85 companies who are so careless about basic skills? Are they run by descendants of Victorian mill owners and chimney sweeps who despise education for the masses? Or are these employers throwbacks to the 60s, believing in the supremacy of self-expression and regarding formal learning as oppressive and authoritarian?
Either way, if the sample was representative, there's a lot of them about.
The grocers are fighting back. They are sick of being blamed for selling alcohol or cigarettes to underage young people. They can't actually deny that this is what some of them do. Sting operations by Trading Standards over the summer found nearly a third of targeted grocery stores, supermarkets and off-licences had sold alcohol to minors.
So their defence takes a different tack. It turns out they are the victims of antisocial behaviour among teenagers. Trade magazine Independent Retail News says more than half the retailers it spoke to in a survey said they had been abused or attacked over the past 12 months for refusing to sell to minors.
The effect is lessened a bit by discovering that 88 per cent of the incidents uncovered involved verbal abuse. Everyone should condemn an exchange that goes: "A bottle of flavoured alcoholic beverage, please." "No chance, you're underage." "Naff off then, you old expletive!" But it's a bit of a distraction from the central point.
