Complaints from companies about the difficulty of finding staff with the right skills have soared, the British Chambers of Commerce will say today, accusing the education system of failing to meet employers' needs.

Figures contained in the BCC's quarterly economic survey show the proportion of companies having difficulty finding skilled employees has risen by 50 per cent in the past decade. In 1994, 29 per cent of companies complained they were being affected by a skills shortage, but by the end of 2004 this had risen to 43 per cent.