Short-sighted Essex tradesmen are turning their backs on the next generation and could be contributing to the very extinction of their crafts, local employment experts have warned.

Career call - Val Davies and Wendy Hindes are asking traders to give youngsters a chance to learn a trade. Picture: ANDREW BELFORD 82DHM1

Essex Careers and Business Partnership staff are growing increasingly concerned at the reluctance of plumbers, electricians, painter and decorators and other tradesmen to pass on their skills and knowledge to young apprentices.

ECBP, the company contracted by the Government to offer south Essex employers free help in tracking down young workers, has reported that the supply of apprenticeships and jobs being registered across the area has all but dried up, leaving hundreds of young people desperate to take up a trade forced into shelf stacking and serving in fast food outlets instead.

Employment and training adviser Wendy Hindes said: "I have lots of young people come to us looking to get a trade behind them, but what we are finding is that we are receiving absolutely no apprenticeships at all from any of the trades, plumbers, electricians, none of them.

"I would ask potential employers to think back to when they started out. You can't just walk out of school and into a job anymore, so it's more important than ever to give someone else the same opportunities that they had themselves."

Anybody with questions regarding the employment of young people should contact Wendy Hindes or Val Davies on 01702 538300

Published Friday, March 15, 2002