Sugar urges firms to hire apprentices during the slump

Employers should continue to take on new apprentices even if they are laying people off during the recession, business tycoon Sir Alan Sugar has warned.

The entrepreneur, star of the hit BBC TV series The Apprentice, said that while employers who had to reduce headcounts were being confronted by “a moral dilemma”, they should continue to “plant the seeds now” for the future by taking on new apprentices.