A survey that looked at 355 companies with over 100 employees has found that despite an increase in applicants for jobs, there is still a skills shortage.

Recruitment firm Randstad commissioned IPSOS Mori to run the research, which aimed to uncover the effect of the economic downturn on the labour market.

Although some 40 per cent of organizations questioned said that the skills shortage they had suffered before had been removed by the recession, a third of companies predicted it was an issue that would get worse.

The firm stated that the research revealed “skills shortages are still expected to be a long-term issue for the UK”.

Companies had said that they were aiming to look internally for a resolution to the issue, presumably by training their existing employees.

Dr John McGurk, advisor on skills and learning for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development recently said that “there are still lots of jobs around but they may not be in an area where people have trained for”.