New university graduates are being let down by "ineffective" job centres after research shows fewer than one in five small businesses use Jobcentre Plus to hire staff, relying instead on costly advertising and recruitment services, industry leaders have said.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) called for jobcentres to be "urgently reformed" in order to address the problem after more that 2,500 members surveyed said they did not know if jobcentres worked well or not.
The FSB said unemployment is set to rise to three million by the end of the year and added that the number of under-25s seeking jobseekers allowance, including thousands of graduates, has increased by 80% this year.
The group called for each jobcentre to appoint a dedicated business manager, and research to be conducted into how funding for unemployment, training and business support was spent. It also called for an overhaul of the Jobcentre Plus website.
John Wright, FSB chairman, said members felt let down by the service Jobcentre Plus offers, even though it costs ??3.36 billion per year.
He said: "As small businesses are the country's key employers, and are known to give a larger proportion of jobs to those who have previously been unemployed than big businesses, it's time the Government reformed Jobcentre Plus and made it work effectively."
