According to the British Chamber of Commerce, a key business theme of 1998 will be how to tackle the shortfall in trained workers faced by British companies.

Its latest survey says many firms are experiencing acute skills shortages and that the situation is unlikely to improve.

Milton Keynes: more vacancies than jobseekers

Shortages of skilled personnel are affecting companies from the bottom up - in sales, IT, management and on factory floors.

Some of the 343 companies surveyed said they feared for the quality of the British workforce in the long term.

Lew Avis, Chairman of the British Chambers of Commerce Skills Task Force, said: "These issues exist throughout Europe."

He said: "We need to be sure that we open up companies and get youngsters coming in and seeing what industry is all about."

Personnel managers from the participating businesses suggested the education system fails to meet the needs of modern industry.

In-house training may not be feasible for companies with fewer than 50 employees.

For smaller businesses, the only way to recruit people with the right skills may be to offer higher wages.

Skill shortages are particularly acute in areas of low unemployment.

Not all companies have the resources to train new employees

Local job centres in Milton Keynes, where unemployment runs at just 2.5%, have enough vacancies for every person signing on.

But people without jobs in the region do not have the skills that the vacancies require.

New industries - such as servicing electronics equipment - have problems recruiting experienced or even qualified technical staff.

David Webb, of Communications Test Design, said "Towards the end of last year, we found it almost impossible to get people."