British and Yugoslav Skills
by Aleksandra Nikolic and Ana Selakovic

Mr Smith: Good evening, ladies and gentleman, and welcome to our broadcast "World skills". Today we are talking about employment opportunities in Britain and Yugoslavia. Our first guest is Miss Nicolson who works for UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology). Good evening, Miss Nicolson.

Miss Nicolson: Good evening.

Mr Smith: It is well known that Britain is one of the countries with the highest percentage of the people in employment.

Miss Nicolson: Yes, that's correct, and Britain is very proud of it. 90% of the workforce, which include people aged 19 to 65, is in employment, and that's quite a big number, you'll agree..

Mr Smith: Oh, yes..

Miss Nicolson: 85% of these are employees, and it includes both male and female workers. I'm happy to say that nowadays in our country men and women are treated as equals. Anyway, the rest of the people in employment fall into other categories, such as self-employment, members of the armed forces and those on work-related government training programmes.

Mr Smith: I understand that, however, 10% of the workforce is unemployed.

Miss Nicolson: Yes, that's true. There are about 2.8 million people looking for a job, and that's a very unfortunate circumstance. But, compared to the previous years this number is much smaller. The education has improved considerably since 1993, and so have our firms, although three years earlier we had a small crisis which had a very negative effect on our industry.

Mr Smith: It is natural that changes in technology considering any kind of jobs bring improvement and better results. It's also obvious that our industry has developed in the last few years. Is it because of the changing work patterns?

Miss Nicolson: It is mostly the consequence of those "small reforms" we made to refresh our employment. It's a usual procedure in every industrialized country. The biggest progress was achieved in raising the number of employees away from manufacturing employment and towards the jobs in the service sector. Participation of women in the labour market was also increased.

Mr Smith: When you said "women in employment" I thought that you could tell me more about them. I know that it was a problem a decade ago, because there were not many women in employment.

Miss Nicolson: Well, since 1981 the number of women obtaining higher education has increased considerably. They now even have better qualifications, earn higher salaries, work in the best firms. Today you can find many women doing the job of the headmaster or his first assistent. They represent nearly 49% of the employees. But, you must admit that they have worse working conditions, and many biological facts stop them from being on the top.

Mr Smith: Yes, but I'm sure they have some privileges.

Miss Nicolson: Actually, they do have maternity rights and the availability of childcare. They are very important because, with their help, a woman can remain in the workforce even if she has just given a birth to her child. If a woman has the necessary qualifying period of continuous employment, she has the right to return to her job after the pregnancy and the maternity absence. The new legislation gives a pregnant employee the right to 14 weeks' maternity leave.

Mr Smith: That's quite encouraging for women. What about the Government? Does it help mothers in any way by, for example, paying extra money for small babies?

Miss Nicolson: The Government also supports mothers in the workforce. They give money for founding certain organizations that would take care of children after school hours and during the holidays. That's their way of help to keep mothers in the firms. They actually entertain children and look after them so women could work during those hours, instead of taking care of them themselves.

Mr Smith: I find this help very nice. But, regardless of sex, all of the employees should get another kind of support: the chance to improve their knowledge in their jobs and to learn something new. I'm talking about training. I think it's necessary for the staff because, after those courses, they can do their jobs more efficiently and have better skills.

Miss Nicolson: Yes, training is very important for the staff, and I think most of the employers realize this. That's the reason they support training, and very often sponsor it. In that way they can ensure that the workers' skills are up-to-date, and that they become aware of the needs of their jobs.

Mr Smith: Is situation about training different nowdays? Are there any newer reforms which are useful?

Miss Nisolson: Of course, there are some very useful organizations, which take care of workers' skills and knowledge. For example, the introduction of TECs (Training and Enterprise Council) in England and Wales and LECs (Local Enterprise Council) in Scotland brought pleasure to both employers and employees. The Investors in People Initiative encourages employers to help their staff develop towards a defined standard. There are also career development loans, which attract attention of many workers.

Mr Smith: What about the VQs (Vocational Qualifications)? Is it true that Britain's system of VQs is being reformed?

Miss Nicolson: Er, yes, it's being reformed by the NCVQ (National Council for Vocational Qualifications) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by SVEC (Scottish Vocational Qualification Council) in Scotland. New NVQs are based on national standards of competence set by industry, with candidates normally assessed in the workplace under normal working conditions.

Mr Smith: So there are 5 NVQ levels - I suppose that most of the people know it, but can you tell me what kind of qualification degree is necessary to be in each of them?

Miss Nicolson: Well, those levels of accredited NVQs are ranging from semi-skilled to professional levels. I can now read you what each of those levels require.

Mr Smith: Sure...

Miss Nicolson:
LEVEL 1- Semi skilled (National Curriculum): competence in the performance of a range of work activities, most of which may be routine.
LEVEL 2- Basic craft certificate (General Certificate of Secondary Education): competence in a significant range of work activities, some of which are complex or non-routine and require some responsibility.
LEVEL 3- Advanced Craft Supervisor/Technician (A/S Level): competence in a broad range of work activities, most of which are complex and non-routine.
LEVEL 4- Higher Technician/Junior Management (Degree Level); competence in a significant range of complex technical or professional work activities performed in a wide variety of contexts with a substantial degree of personal responsibility.
LEVEL5- Professional/Middle Managers (Postgraduate Level): competence involving the application of a significant range of fundamental principles and complex techniques in a wide variety of contexts. Very substantial personal autonomy and often significant responsibility for the work of others and for the alocation of substantial resources are strongly featured.

Mr Smith: I'm sure these reforms will be very useful for further developments. Anyway, it is well known that apprenticeships are one of the traditional routes into skilled manual crafts. Has the number of people undertaking apprenticeships changed?

Miss Nicolson: Although there has been something of a decline in that number in recent years, it is still quite substantial. The Government has lately been trying to take 16 and 17 year-olds up to NVQ level 3 or even above. So it launched its Modern Apprenticeships initiative intended for these young people.

Mr Smith: Can you explain how it works?

Miss Nicolson: Well what's most important, arrangements between young people and employers are very flexible. They first agree about the offered training, the prospects of qualifications and the intended route to a job with the employer; then about the time needed to become qualified (it usually takes two-and-a-half to three years). Finally, young people will have opportunities in all sectors and occupations regardless of the power of companies.

Mr Smith: There were many Government reforms of industrial relations and trade union law. Have these reforms borne fruit?

Miss Nicolson: Oh, yes, sure they have. They have helped establish a better balance of power between trade unions and employers, and have increased the rights of individual trade union members. Workers liked those reforms, especially the last one mentioned, and as a result there has been a very considerable reduction in the number of working days lost to strikes. After this move of the Government, every side get what they want, and everybody is satisfied.

Mr Smith: My last question will be about skills competitions. It's very popular in Britain, isn't it....

Miss Nicolson: Oh, yes indeed...It's a very interesting way of learning. Members of the workforce can test their skills against one another. The competitors are especially motivated to be better, which later positively affects their jobs. In my opinion, the Government did a clever thing, because it's the easiest way to achieve better results and success.

Mr Smith: Miss Nicolson, thank You very much for being our guest tonight. Now, ladies and gentleman, after a short music break, we'll be listening to our next special guest.

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Mr Smith: Our second guest for tonight is Miss Savich from Yugoslavia. Good evening.

Miss Savich: Good evening.

Mr Smith: I understand that the situation in Yugoslavia is much different from the one we've just heard about.

Miss Savich: Yes, that's true. The situation in Yugoslavia has changed a lot in the recent years. Since 1990 the number of people in employment has declined. A high percentage of people have been left without a job. It's because there weren't enough raw materials and work was reduced, so a big number of people had to be made redundant and put on the waiting list. But now the situation is much different, I mean better.

Mr Smith: Now your industry has started developing again.

Miss Savich: Since 1995 industry has developed again. Now some big foreign firms are very interested to have collaboration with Yugoslav firms. They invested money in some firms which are in crisis at the moment. The cooperation between those firms is good and usually it is continued with success. I must say that the Government helps firms, gives them money. Today, most of the firms have overcome the critical situation. I can say that because they again work in the same way as they did a few years ago.

Mr Smith: Miss Savich, since the situation in your firms is so bad, can you afford paying extra money for employees' training?

Miss Savich: Employers give money for training, but it's still inadequate. There aren't many examples which would confirm it. Well, sometimes, when it's necessary, when some new technology is brought in, employers give money... Now, every firm has computers and a lot of people still don't know how to use them, and teaching those people is one of the most widespread examples of what the money is given for.

Mr Smith: But, do you have any special organisations for training?

Miss Savich: Well, there are some organisations which are specialized for training, but it still isn't a big number. People go there and learn, practise how to do something, but quite a small number of them has enough trainees.

Mr Smith: What about women in employment? I mean, has their number grown in recent years, or are they still just housewives?

Miss Savich: Oh, that's a good question, I just wanted to say something about it. There were some researches and the results are that now there are three times as many women as there were ten years ago. Quite a few of them have a University degree. Earlier, they only looked after their children, but now their role is much different. There are women in every job, and what's most important, jobs aren't divided into men's or jobs for women any more.

Mr Smith: And the nursery schools? Can every working mother afford to have a nursery school take care of children on work-days or do family and neighbours mostly take care of them?

Miss Savich: As I said, a large per cent of women is in employment. Now, they don't have so much time to take care of children, so they take children to nursery schools where they have a good time and where they can learn some useful things. The school fee is not a big sum, it's quite symbolic. In some families, it's true that grandparents and neighbours take care of children; but in general the situation isn't like that, because most of the parents prefer nursery schools.

Mr Smith: Does the Government pay any extra money for children?

Miss Savich: Yes, the Government pays money for children. Families where there are more than two children get special allowances, and it's very useful for them. One more way in which the Government gives money is awarding scholarships to good students who achieve the best results in some special areas of science, art, culture etc.

Mr Smith: Thank you very much Mrs Savich for this short conversation. And You ladies and gentlemen enjoy the music during the rest of the evening.Good-bye and stay with our radio.