Over at the Scottish online newspaper Caledonian Mercury they are running a series of articles from different people on the best way forward for the Scottish economy in these testing times. Last week they had one from the Scottish Federation of Small Business (SFSB) which urged the Scottish Government to look at helping the 200,000 strong Scottish one man businesses expand after figures showed that over the past decade it was SME’s who created the biggest share of new Scottish jobs.
Colin Borland of the Scottish FSB writes ‘If the history books are any sort of guide, though, we know that a sustained period of mass unemployment must be avoided. Fewer people in work, fewer taxpayers and fewer consumer pounds going round the economy, coupled with more people drawing state benefits, is a tried and tested recipe for economic stagnation – and that’s before the massive social costs are even counted.
So, with Scottish unemployment standing at 216,000; poor local labour market statistics; and significant public sector job cuts on the cards, we urgently need more private sector jobs in the economy.
The only question is where they are going to come from.
The form guide says that over the last decade Scottish big business shed 34,000 jobs, while small businesses created 67,000. Thus, it is going to be down to our small firms to build on this track record and create employment wherever the opportunity exists.
So how can we make it easier for them to get on with the job?
First, we need to look at how we can make job creation more affordable and the UK government needs to consider cutting payroll taxes for new jobs in all small businesses, not just start-ups.
And, at Holyrood, surely it is now time to shift the focus of enterprise support from a small number of favoured companies and sectors to the solid, if unfashionable, small businesses which are going to form the foundation of any sustained recovery.
Why not, for example, focus some effort on helping the 200,000-strong army of single member enterprises in Scotland create more new jobs?
People are self-employed for many reasons – the structure of their industry, semi-retirement etc. – and becoming an employer is not for everyone. But what about those who are running successful businesses as owner-managers and who, like 30 per cent of small businesses in Scotland, are operating at full capacity?
Harnessing this untapped resource, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has argued, would be neither particularly complex nor expensive. Initially, it would require someone to sit down with a prospective employer and explain exactly what they would be taking on – dispelling the myths, but also setting out the obligations and costs. If they decide to move forward, there would be someone there to take them through that daunting first recruitment process – from placing the advert to drawing up the employment contract. This would require a dedicated member of staff, but that does not necessarily mean a net increase in headcount.'
It seems WAG are not alone in ignoring the needs of small businesses, but the big difference is despite the Scottish Government not paying much attention to those needs, SME’s have created the lion share of jobs the same is not true in Wales.
And Scotland still has an advantage because those medium and large businesses who the Government does support and are able to expand in the coming months and years, no longer have to compete with the Regional Development Agencies in England on a UK basis or with International Business Wales on a global stage.Any source
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