More than half (53 per cent) of UK employers doubt that they can find skilled staff to meet their business needs, according to research by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and qualification provider Edexcel.

Fifty six per cent are concerned about existing employees' IT literacy and 69 per cent are investing in training to raise IT skills of their staff with the main reason cited being that workplace skills lag behind technology advances.

And six out of ten firms requiring workers with science, technology, engineering and maths skills (STEM) are having problems recruiting, partly blaming the drop in university applicants for these subjects.

The vast majority (92 per cent) of firms across all sectors want people with STEM skills.

While 36 per cent are recruiting from India, 24 per cent are looking to China and 35 per cent will look at hiring in Europe in the next three years.

And larger firms are twice as likely as their smaller peers to recruit in the expanded EU, such as in Poland.

But the shortage isn't limited to IT, as two fifths of employers are seriously concerned about basic numeracy and literacy skills among staff.