The CBI members have the answer
I was brilliant at chemistry when I was at school. I was top for the 3 years leading up to O level. I did no revision, didn't have a notebook, always got 10/10 for homework, completed the O level exam in about 30 minutes and knew the entire syllabus.
My first job, laboratory assistant in an edible oil plant. My first salary £470/year.
A girl who was the same age is myself earned twice as much for assembling cardboard boxes.
Sort of shows the rewards given for qualified people. OK a few O levels may not be very much, but it was a lot more than the cardboard box assemblers.
I exited chemistry as there was no viable future in it and moved into electrical engineering, eventually ending up in programming.
The CBI are always bleating on about the education system. It is CBI members who have hired people with "useless" degrees, it is CBI members that do not wish to pay adequate salaries or reward efforts.
The CBI has little to complain about really, after all, it is they who offer careers, and if the career is not rewarded as well as those careers with a "useless" degree, they can hardly blame people for not wanting to pursue them.
So Mr CBI, pay people proper salaries and you will find they begin to get interested in what your members may have to offer. Continue with your stinginess and they wont. Simple, cause and effect, most science people understand this principle.