Six out of ten employers are having difficulties recruiting graduates for technical positions, such as IT, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has revealed.

A survey of 735 UK firms that the falling number of graduates with science, technology, engineering and maths qualifications is fuelling a skills shortage.

The CBI reports that 59% of the firms it polled said they were having difficulty in recruiting graduates with science, technology, engineering or maths qualifications.

Yet by 2014, the CBI predicts that the UK employers will need an additional 730,000 graduates with such technical skills.

"A worrying number of employers have little confidence that they will be able to plug their skills gaps. In our new stock take of the nation's skills, too many firms also say poor basic skills are hampering customer service and acting as a drag on their business's performance," said John Cridland, director general of the CBI.

Larger firms are increasingly looking to India, China and Eastern Europe to bridge the shortfall in UK skills.

Meanwhile, the research also showed that more than half of employers are concerned about their staff's inability to use computers.