Home > Job News > Graduates > Budget To Boost Graduate Jobs? < Job News and Info

Yesterday’s Budget by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osbourne could spell good news for graduate jobs going forward.

A cut in National Insurance, particularly for small companies, could make it more affordable for firms to offer jobs to graduates, and should boost the total number of vacancies in the wider economy.

Billed as the Employment Allowance, the new measures will see companies getting a National Insurance break of up to £2,000 for new employees. It is expected that the move will make it affordable for even one-man businesses to hire their first employee or take on a graduate.

The Chancellor said the Employment Allowance will mean that a small firm can take on an graduate or other employee on a full time salary of £22,000 without paying a penny towards National Insurance contributions. Likewise, a company could hire four employees at minimum wage and not be faced with any National Insurance bill.

Mr Osbourne estimated that 1 in 3 UK businesses will pay no National Insurance contributions once the Employment Allowance comes into force.

Professor Anne Redston of King's College London described the announcement as ‘a welcome spur to real employment.’

Not everyone was convinced by Mr Osbourne’s measures, however. Frances O'Grady, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) was less than enthusiastic when commentating on the Chancellor’s ideas: “This budget is the wrong answer to the wrong question. We face a jobs, growth and living standards crisis, yet today's proposals are small beer that do little more than tinker at the edges.”

Regardless of what the budget does for National Insurance contributions by businesses, we’ll still be doing our best to find graduate jobs all over the United Kingdom. If you are graduating this summer, or you’ve already graduated, then see what vacancies are available in your town or city by using our Graduate Job Search.