The government is spending £8 million on advertising adult education courses in a bid to improve the country's skills.

The move comes as part of the In Our Hands initiative, a new campaign headed up by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC).

John Denham, the recently-installed innovation, universities and skills secretary, has warned that unskilled jobs are dying out and that thousands more people could be unemployable in the future if they were not better trained.

In Our Hands seeks to bring together individuals, employers and the education system to offer training and compel people who need it to take advantage of it.

The initiative comes as new prime minister Gordon Brown seeks to close the skills gap faced by many sectors of the economy.

Mr Brown is well aware that a consistent flow of well-qualified entrants to the job market is vital if Britain is to maintain its position among the world's economic elite.

The economy has undergone a major shift in the last half century meaning that the services sector, especially financial services, is now the biggest contributor.

Efforts to improve skills are likely to focus on these areas with insurers and banks making such a massive contribution to the economy and the Treasury's coffers.