More private sector job cuts on way

The government's hope that private sector employers will create enough jobs to make up for public sector cuts have been dealt another blow with news that a growing number of businesses are planning to cut staff. Almost a third of employers across the state and private sectors said they expected to make some workers redundant during the next three months and the number of workers who will lose their jobs has increased. Redundancies are most likely in the public sector, where 36% of employers plan to shed jobs, reflecting cuts for government departments and councils announced by the chancellor, George Osborne, in June.

Keeping schtum

The latest survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and accountants KPMG, showed that 32% of employers across the state and private sectors said they expected to make some workers redundant during the next three months. It marks a rise on the 29% recorded in the previous quarter. The number of employees likely to lose their jobs has also increased. Across all sectors, employers are expecting to make an average of 5.5% of their workforce redundant, up from 3.6% in the last quarterly report. In the public sector, redundancies will affect almost 8% of the workforce on average.

The coalition government is hoping that the private sector will be able to make up for job losses in the public sector, but the CIPD report will give ministers little cause for comfort. The survey showed that 30% of private sector employers plan staff cuts, up from 24% three months earlier. Overall the survey of 600 employers still showed more were intending to increase total staffing levels than cut them, the Labour Market Outlook said. But the authors warned that the figures masked the overall effect on job losses, since those organisations that were planning to make redundancies expected to make a greater proportion of their workforce redundant this quarter.

"The CIPD believes that a rise in unemployment in the next two years remains a distinct possibility as the private sector recovery is offset by the 600,000 public sector job losses the government expects over the next five years," said CIPD public policy adviser Gerwyn Davies.

the Guardian