FSB wins government pledge for small businesses on graduate internships
Sat, 03/10/2009 - 10:23 — Paul Mes FSB
FSB Statement in response to Gordon Brown’s speech, Labour Party Conference, Tuesday, 29 September 2009
In response to Gordon Brown’s announcement of support for graduate internships in small businesses, John Wright, National Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said:
“Over the past few months, the FSB has been calling for the Government to recognise the importance of small businesses in creating jobs for skilled young people graduating from college and university. Small firms are the country’s job creators – central to our economic recovery – and more than half have said they would employ more staff if they were given the right support.
“The Government’s pledge to set up 10,000 skilled internships is a real victory for the FSB and a victory for small businesses across the country.
“This will help those graduates leaving university at a time when the job market is sluggish at best – they will get real work experience and develop real skills. And small firms will benefit from the skills of this workforce, which they traditionally find harder to recruit. Research from previous schemes shows that one in four graduates are also offered full-time employment in the business at the end of their placement.
“The FSB is committed to promoting this scheme among its membership, and to encouraging all small businesses to link up with university careers services to offer vacancies and create placements.”