Businesses called upon to hire more staff

13.02.09

The government is calling on businesses to help get 360,000 unemployed people back to work by the end of the year.

Employers are being urged to hire 200,000 jobless this year through the Jobcentre-led Local Employment Partnerships (LEP) scheme.

Labour market figures released this week revealed that unemployment in the UK has risen by 146,000 on the last quarter to 1.97m, and the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance has risen by 73,800 over the last month.

However, figures also show there are just over half a million vacancies across the country and employment levels, at 29.36m, remain high.

Speaking at a meeting of the National Employment Partnership (NEP), James Purnell, secretary of state for work and pensions said: “Businesses are already helping thousands of people into work through our LEP scheme and today we will be committing to helping a further 200,000 more into jobs over the next year.”

On the launch of the LEP scheme two years ago, it was hoped that 250,000 placements would be made by April 2010. So far, only 90,000 people have been hired through LEPs.

Purnell continued: “We know times are tough and we need to continue doing all we can to support people who lose their jobs find another as quickly as possible, preventing the long term unemployment which has so scarred communities in the past from taking root.”

© Crimson Business Ltd, 2009