The graduate class of 2009 is entering a particularly challenging labour market. The Association of Graduate Recruiters reported in July that graduate vacancies had plummeted by a quarter and that an average of 48 applicants were competing for each available job. The class of 2009 is also the first to have paid up to 3,225 British Pounds in top-up fees for each year of study. It is not surprising that recent graduates have been described by some in the media as "Generation Crunch". The Government's response has been to unveil a package of measures including the Graduate Talent Pool internship programme and funding to support 10,000 internships in small and micro businesses in partnership with the Federation of Small Businesses. While these measures are to be welcomed, ultimately, the fate of Generation Crunch will be determined by the demand for their services from employers. It is essential that government interventions aimed at stimulating the demand for "Generation Crunch" graduates are grounded in the day-to-day reality of running a business, particularly a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). Recruitment decisions are rarely made in isolation from a wider range of human resource, strategic and financial decisions. There is also evidence to suggest that while the left hand of government is attempting to stimulate the adoption of high value-added business strategies and graduate recruitment, the right hand is busily adding to the burden of regulation and oversight that SMEs have to contend with. In this context, success in encouraging businesses to recruit the brightest and the best of Generation Crunch may be determined as much by government doing less, as it will by asking SMEs to do more.