Wales’ Commissioner for Employment and Skills Scott Waddington has urged more employers to offer work placements to young people, following a major study showing that job experience is the most valued asset firms look for when hiring new recruits.

Almost two thirds of employers from south east Wales (63 per cent) said they regarded relevant work experience as either a significant or critical requirement among those applying to join their workforces.

However only 37 per cent of south east Wales employers provide placement opportunities, and only 30 per cent offer such opportunities to those still in education.

The Employer Perspectives Survey, carried out every two years, seeks to establish employer views and experiences across a wide range of key workforce issues including patterns of recruitment, investment in training and work experience.

The figures showed that 31 per cent of all establishments across south east Wales had hired one or more 16 to 24-year-olds in the past year though only 34 per cent had given jobs to those who had just completed their education.

While 60 per cent of Welsh employers said they found 17-18 year old school leavers either well-prepared or very well-prepared for work, 75 per cent said they found further education leavers to be similarly job-ready. Among university leavers, who typically would be two or three years older, the figure rose to 82 per cent.

Two thirds of Welsh employers said they provided staff training, with 55 per cent offering internal training but a considerable proportion of employers said they use external organisations to deliver their training (42 per cent).

The importance of work experience in the recruitment process emerged from employers responses to a question on the attributes they look for in job applicants.

A total of 63 per cent noted relevant work experience to be critical or significant compared with 48 per cent who said they looked for vocational qualifications and 48 per cent who looked for academic qualifications.

GCSE maths and English was the second highest answer with 56 per cent of employers saying it was a critical or significant attribute.

Mr Waddington said the figures underlined the importance of giving young people the opportunity to gain meaningful experience of jobs in which they have a potential career interest.