Nearly half of all Hertfordshire companies have experienced difficulties recruiting the right people, a new county-wide report reveals

The most commonly cited reasons were a lack of skilled people, an overall lack of applicants and the poor attitude of prospective employees.

The survey carried out by Hertfordshire Training & Enterprise Council for the Hertfordshire Prosperity Forum showed that medium sized firms, which account for 2.6per cent of all the county's firms but who employ more than 25per cent of the workforce, suffered the biggest recruitment problems.

Hertfordshire TEC is part of a network of TECs in England, which are led by local businesses with the aim of supporting the economy through skills and business development.

Questionnaires were sent to 5,000 businesses throughout Hertfordshire in the tenth annual Employer Survey. The report presents findings based on 900 responses and compares the results with previous surveys.

More than a third of employers questioned in the Employers Survey 1998 said they would like their staff to have better information technology skills, with selling and management skills following closely.

"Although the economy of Hertfordshire is still strong which is resulting in skill shortages, it is clear that the recent events in the global economy will have an adverse impact in the UK," said Stewart Segal, chief executive of Hertfordshire TEC.

"Businesses are therefore more aware than ever that they have to take advantage of every business opportunity, and Hertfordshire TEC and Business Link Hertfordshire are developing the solutions they need."

The main areas highlighted for improvement included management development, IT skills and helping business to develop new services and enter new markets.

And around two thirds of employers questioned in the survey who currently export, said they want to increase their activities abroad. But the cost of marketing, a lack of contacts overseas and prices were some of the reasons that companies are prevented from developing the export markets.

The demand from employers for computer skills is expected to grow as the approach of the Millennium date change draws near, as fears about computer systems crashing increase.

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