With figures out showing a rise in unemployment, it is crucial for Government and business to work together to give people looking for work the help they need to take up the more than half a million vacancies employers are looking to fill.
In the first meeting of the NEP, Government has asked members to pledge to:
- Advertise their non-specialist vacancies through Jobcentre Plus;
- Fill more of the jobs they create through the already successful Local Employment Partnerships (LEPs) and other new measures;
- Encourage employers they work with and their supply chains to recruit from a broader field by placing more of their vacancies with Jobcentre Plus; and take advantage of the skills support available, including through Train to Gain; and
- Promote the development of the skills Britain needs for the recovery, including increasing the availability of Apprenticeships, taking up Government subsidies for the lower skilled and sustaining employer investment in workforce skills.
The Government also set out an aim to get an additional 200,000 people into work through the LEP scheme over the next year.
James Purnell said:
"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.
"The Prime Minister and I are meeting key national employers today to plan what more we can do to help people back to work and into apprenticeships, including advertising more vacancies through Jobcentre Plus."
