Brown's £2,500-a-job bonus

Published on Monday 12 January 2009 21:14

FIRMS are to receive £2,500 for each long-term unemployed person they hire under a £500 million package announced by Gordon Brown yesterday.

The Prime Minister told a jobs summit in London that the incentive would be offered to companies taking on staff who had been on the dole for at least six months.

The proposal – part of a 1 billion plan to address soaring unemployment – is similar to a Conservative initiative announced two months ago, which would have cut firms' National Insurance contributions by 2,500 for each new worker employed.

Mr Brown, who was boosted with news that the supermarket chain Morrisons planned to create 5,000 new posts, said the measures should help 500,000 people back into work or training over the next two years. There would also be more apprenticeships.

He said: "We will do everything we can to prevent the global recession turning into a global depression."