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As part of the government's youth contract programme, Nick Clegg has urged Britain’s business houses to make room for accommodating more young workers.

This comes even as Clegg calls on businesses across Britain to participate in the youth contract programme.

In his letter to firms, the deputy prime minister has said hiring 18 to 24 year-olds would be reciprocated by the government with a cash incentive. For every young person they take out of unemployment, they will get £2,275. The cash will be available to them after six months, although smaller companies will be allowed to pick up initial payments after two months.

Clegg said, "Getting young people earning or learning is my top priority, and that's what the youth contract is going to do. This is a long-term boost to help business get young people into jobs before long-term damage is done.”

This said, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) expects the first three months of 2012 to be the hardest in terms of acquiring jobs since the financial downturn in 2008-09. In a survey of the labour market conducted by the CIPD, it was found that the bleak outlook for employment numbers was due to a decline in private sector confidence.

The institute’s public policy adviser Gerwyn Davie said, "Whereas employers were in 'wait and see' mode three months ago, more private sector firms, particularly among private sector services firms, have decided to push the redundancy button in response to worsening economic news.”

On the other hand, the CBI, a powerful employers’ group, has forecast that Britain’s economy would expand by 0.2% in the first half of this year enabling the country to avert a double-dip recession. Conditions are to improve further during the latter half, it has added, although it forebodes that unemployment levels would touch a record level of 2.9 million in a year’s time.