Skilled worker shortage tops list of risks facing businesses: Lloyd’s

Losing customers and a shortage of skilled workers has topped the 2011 Lloyd’s Risk Index, displacing a lack of credit as the greatest worry for businesses.
The Economist Intelligence Unit surveyed 500 global businesses on behalf of Lloyd’s to determine the top risks perceived by businesses.
“Two years ago, businesses told us they were primarily concerned about the cost and supply of credit. Now they are facing an even greater business fundamental, with many wondering just what’s happened to their customers, and where can they find the skilled staff they so desperately need,” Richard Ward, Lloyd’s CEO, said in a release. The survey results, he added, are a “snapshot of the results of two years of economic and political turmoil.”
The survey also found that despite a spate of devastating natural catastrophes around the world in the last two years, business leaders placed ‘natural hazard’ risks (ranging from floods to earthquakes) in the bottom ten of 50 risks.
“This is despite the $205 billion gap that exists between the insured risk and the economic cost of such catastrophes in the first half of 2011 alone,” the Lloyd’s release says.
In fact, 70% of business leaders surveyed said they feel better prepared to cope with the vast majority of the risks they face compared with two years ago.