NORTH-west employers say schools are not preparing their pupils for the workplace adequately.

Nearly 70 per cent of business leaders surveyed by financial advisers Grant Thornton Grant believe school leavers are not being equipped with the necessary skills to help them cope when they start earning a wage. The findings, which have been released as young people contemplate their A level and GCSE results, feature in the latest Grant Thornton Business Barometer.

It also reveals that a quarter of those surveyed are expecting to recruit over the coming six months, but more than half expect to have trouble finding people with the right skills.

for the jobs.

Businesses with a combined turnover of almost £2 billion and employing more

than 24,000 people, were quizzed earlier this year for the 17th Business

Barometer.

Manchester business leaders were the most critical of the preparatory work

carried out by schools, at 71 per cent, while nearly a half of those

surveyed said they were having problems recruiting people with the right

skills.

Grant Thornton's Manchester-based partner Karen Campbell said: "Businesses

across all regions are planning to increase staff levels over the coming months and it begs the questions: will they also be able to find the right skilled people for the jobs?"

She said a total of 43 per cent of businesses who responded were prepared to get the pick of the crop by paying a premium for graduates.