A survey carried out by The Manufacturing Foundation found that only four per cent of 11- to 15-year-olds were interested in jobs in manufacturing.
Talk to young people about these findings. How enthusiastic would they be about such jobs?
What are their decisions based on? Ask what young people know about careers in manufacturing. Invite them to give their image of a typical industry and a typical job in the industry. Do they see it as boring factory work?
Or old-fashioned jobs using low-tech tools such as lathes?
Such images are out of date, says Nick Brayshaw, of the CBI's Manufacturing Council. He thinks schools are partly to blame because they still see manufacturing the way it was 20 years ago. "Schools are telling their children to go into computers," he says. "But the sector is a huge user of computers - for example, in design, automation and logistics."
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