UNIONS are launching a new initiative to tackle the country’s skills crisis, aimed at equipping workers for jobs of the future.

Announcing its 2050 Skills Project, the TUC said Britain is at a “pivotal moment” and must urgently prepare the workforce for a rapidly changing labour market.

As AI is rolled out across the economy, two-thirds of employers say workforce technical skills are now a major barrier.

The union federation blamed Britain’s skills crisis on years of underinvestment by governments and employers, a failure to listen to workers and a skills system struggling to keep pace with the speed of technological change.

Its 2050 Skills Project aims to tackle this by co-designing a long-term, worker-centred skills strategy with stakeholders including unions, employer bodies Make UK and the British Chambers of Commerce and the Association of Colleges.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Britain is being held back by a persistent skills crisis.

“The problem isn’t a lack of talent — it’s years of underinvestment in the skills people need to succeed.

“We need to go further and faster to equip workers with the skills they need for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

“Too many people risk being shut out of a rapidly changing labour market because they haven’t been given the opportunity to retrain and adapt.”

British Chambers of Commerce director of policy Kate Shoesmith said its research showed that more than half of businesses were facing skills shortages.

“This is a serious drag on productivity and growth,” she warned.

“We need a coherent skills system which enables firms to respond to the compounding challenges of AI, an ageing workforce, higher employment costs and record numbers of young people out of work.”

Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes warned Britain is facing a “critical skills crisis.”

“It is a situation that the new prime minister must set right because adults are missing out on opportunities to learn the new skills they will need in a changing world and as a result, employers are struggling to find the people they need with the skills needed to be productive,” he said.

“We need a shift to a lifelong learning culture, backed up by actions from government, employers, colleges, unions and others.”