The Chancellor has offered employers a significant incentive to take on young people by abolishing National Insurance contributions for anybody under 21.
He said the move, which will require legislation and so is not expected to be effective until April 2015, would save around £500 a year for a company employing a young person on a salary of £12,000.
There is also more money to fund apprenticeships which will be funded directly through HMRC and an extension to the Enterprise Allowance.
The Chancellor emphasised that employment rates had risen despite the state of the economy and that around 400,000 more people would be in work this year.
He forecast that the unemployment rate, currently at 7.6%, would fall to 7.0% by 2015 – at that level the Bank of England has said it may step in and increase interest rates.
