HALF of all 19-year-olds in the North West can't read or count well enough to complete on-the-job training.

That's according to Learning for Earning, a project by the North West Partnership launched this week along with the latest Regional Economic Strategy.

The project claims the North West simply doesn't have enough educated people to provide a modern and competitive workforce.

And that's one of the problems singled out by the Regional Economic Strategy which it aims to rectify to make the region a positive, competitive force in Europe.

The Strategy put together by a partnership of local authorities and representatives from commerce, industry, environmental and voluntary sectors, has some optimistic plans for the future.

And one target is 'to achieve the world's best standards in human resource skills'.

It wants to see at least 85 per cent of 19 to 21-year-olds pass at least five GCSEs at grade C or above by the year 2000. It also aims to see 65 per cent of 21 to 23-year-olds achieve two A levels or the equivalent.

These targets are to be enforced and monitored through local 'pressure points' such as schools, training centres and places of work.

Leader of Lancashire County Council and vice-chairman of the North West Regional Association Mrs Louise Ellman said: "The Strategy marks a landmark for regional development in the North West, showing how partnership between the public and private sectors can show the way forward."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.