A REPORT into what cities will be like by 2030 should galvanise Keighley and Bradford into building a workforce with the right skills, according to a councillor.

And Cllr Adrian Naylor warned the Cities Outlook 2018-30 report shows Keighley and Bradford need more of the right kind of homes, instead of “unaffordable” executive-type housing.

“Over 50 per cent of future national job growth is expected to be in the public sector such as health and welfare and 24 per cent in high skilled private sector roles,” he said.

“Unfortunately, Bradford district is expected to see less than 10 per cent growth in high skilled private sector jobs, with a much greater growth in low skilled private sector jobs.

“This has major implications for our local plan, as it means the working age population in Bradford district will not be in the higher paid occupations.

“So building four-bed executive homes won’t match the need of residents between now and 2030.”

Cllr Naylor, of Craven Ward, said the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) predicts major changes to the UK jobs market, due to technological advances, globalisation and demographic changes.

“Between 1911 and 2016 Bradford was one of seven cities to see a reduction in jobs by over 50 per cent, while 52 cities increased their workforce during the same period,” he added.

“Bradford district’s workforce is expected to decline by 24.2 per cent by 2030.

“Over half this decline will be in five occupations: sales assistants and retail cashiers, other administrative occupations, customer service occupations, financial administrative occupations, and elementary storage occupations.

“Wages between 2016-2017 saw a reduction in wages of £34 per week, and Bradford district is in the bottom 10 for the lowest level of weekly earnings.

“Bradford is a relatively low wage economy which needs to be addressed immediately.”

Cllr Naylor said younger people in Keighley and Bradford entering the jobs market must be provided with the skills and knowledge required to succeed in the future. And he said “lifelong learning” would become even more important than it is now.

“The pace of change will increase, which will introduce the need to develop new skills for jobs which have not been invented yet,” he said. “Individuals least able to adapt need to be given adequate support and retraining.

“The threat from automation is no different now than it was 100 years ago. Change has a disruptive effect on older established occupations, which can no longer be relied on to provide employment in future.

“One way to offset the effect of change is to be innovative and this is an area Bradford district should concentrate on.

“Bradford is 57th out of 63 cities when it comes to filling patents. We should be investing in developing new technology especially digital technologies.

“We need to encourage the building of the type of homes future residents need and can afford, rather than executive homes which are unaffordable for most.

“And we need to concentrate on creating the right jobs that Bradford needs over the next 20 to 25 years, rather than seeing large areas of employment land left derelict.”