Mon, 15 Apr 2013Job creation in UK businesses is looking healthy for the next 12 months – a success which is only lightly indebted to government schemes.

According to banking group Barclay’s Job Creation Survey 2013, which researched more than 700 UK businesses, 56% of businesses are planning to hire this year, down only slightly from 58% last year, while just 21% of companies were planning job losses.

Most companies (83%) believe that government efforts to remove barriers to job creation are having no impact on their business, although this is a slight improvement on 2012’s 88%.

Just over one in four firms say a reduction in National Insurance contributions designed to increase hiring will have a major effect on the job market – changes that were enthusiastically welcomed by the Forum of Private Business.

The Barclays survey also found a lukewarm response to the government’s shares for rights scheme, with 36% of businesses thinking it will not be popular and 30% unaware of it.

Meanwhile, a report in the Financial Times today finds that the 24 Enterprise Zones the government said would create over 30,000 new jobs by 2015, have in fact spawned fewer than 2,000.