'Ineffective' jobcentres fail graduates - graduate jobs

University graduates are being let down by "ineffective" job centres despite rising levels of unemployment, according to business leaders.

Fewer than one in five smaller companies use jobcentres to recruit, preferring instead to hire employment agencies, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said.

With fierce competition for every single graduate programme, university leavers might have to move back in with their families and find local work. But the FSB said smaller businesses often do not recruit through the jobcentres, even though they are "key employers" in the UK and often provide the vital "first job" after university.

FSB wants each jobcentre to have a dedicated small business manager to help graduates and employers find each other. It has also called for an overhaul of the JobCentrePlus website and more research into where funding for JobCentrePlus network is spent.

FSB chairman John Wright said: "As small businesses are the country's key employers, and are known to give a larger proportion of jobs to those who have previously been unemployed than big businesses, it's time the Government reformed Jobcentre Plus and made it work effectively."