SOMERSET’S burgeoning economy could stall unless more is done to reverse a brain drain of young talent, a business leader is warning.

Neil Murphy, chief executive at Somerset Chamber of Commerce, is calling for more ‘learn-on-the-job’ apprenticeships to lure promising school leavers straight into work locally rather than seeing them move away to university and not return.

His plea comes as a Taunton businessman admitted he may have to “look elsewhere” after failing to fill ten vacancies.

Mr Murphy said that although the county has a growing population and improving economy, it suffers from a shrinking population of working age people.

He said: “The economy is forecast to grow over the next five or six years, maybe slightly ahead of the Government’s national forecasts.

“There’s a significant opportunity for economic growth, but the working pool of labour is getting smaller.

“We need to retain the talent we’ve got, to stop young people leaving for university and not coming back, by showing them a clear understanding of where their careers lie.

“We need our education people to make sure our young people are work-ready, with the right skills, not just being taught to pass exams.”

Mr Murphy, who highlighted a particular shortage in engineers, said the Labour Government’s target 20 years ago to send 50% of young people to university had made the problem worse.

He added: “If a young person lives in Somerset, going to university means leaving the county – then they’ll be attracted by the bright lights and only come back later in their lives.

“Somerset’s growing and vibrant economy is a very positive story, but we need talented people to fuel that growth and there are some fundamental issues we need to address to stop that talent bleeding away, giving them a reason to stay.”

Meanwhile, Chris Ormrod, managing director at Taunton’s Ministry of Cake, partially blames low unemployment in the town for his inability to attract new staff.

He said: “We’re finding it really hard to fill 10 full-time vacancies we’ve had for weeks.

“They are for key operatives in the bakery – I’d have thought people would have been flocking to the door by now.

“We need good people and if we can’t find them, then inevitably that means we have to look elsewhere and bring in more temporary workers from outside the area.

“I’m not sure how you address that, but if I look around at the number of houses being built in the area, I have my fingers crossed that we’ll get to a point where we’ll have more people coming in to work for us.”