Unemployment to hit almost three million

Date: 13th February 2012

Small businesses could be expected to pick up the slack in the UK's job market as unemployment continues to rise.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the UK's unemployment rate will hit 2.85 million before the year is out.

As small businesses are one of the biggest providers of UK jobs, this could put additional pressure on a number of managers.

The government must hope that as unemployment rises, a growing number of individuals are tempted to set up a business of their own.

Gerwyn Davies, the CIPD's public policy adviser, explained: "This will exert yet more pressure on a jobs market that is buckling under the strains of contractions in economic growth and public sector employment.

"The fear is that these existing pressures, which include a widening chasm between the employment prospects of those in the north and the south, will become greater still if business conditions do not improve in the next few months."

Posted by Emily Smith