SUSSEX will be in danger of losing its manufacturing industries if it can't provide the staff they need.

Stephanie Parkes-Crick, chairman of the Sussex branch of the Institute of Directors, said: "Sussex has a very strong service sector, particularly in the multimedia and finance fields, but we need a balance and we are in danger of driving away our wealth-creating manufacturers if they can't recruit the right calibre of staff in the county." Arecent national survey by the IoD revealed that although more than 80 per cent of businesses wanted to expand, the lack of skilled labour was preventing them. Ms Parkes-Crick said: "It is frustrating to know that opportunities are being missed because of skills shortages. "It is vital that links between business and education are strengthened so that we equip our young people, and the not-so-young who are re-training, with skills that are in demand and for which there are vacancies."

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