Umbrella contractor news: UK jobs market faces public sector threat

Posted on 5 March 2010

Published by Susie Lee-Kilgariff

The UK labour market recovery is likely to be halted by public sector spending cuts, it has been claimed.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the UK will be particularly affected by a reduction in government-funded jobs compared to the US.

While just 17 per cent of workers are employed in the US public sector, this figure is 21 per cent in the UK, CIPD claims.

Economists have widely predicted a reduction in government spending to reduce the national budget deficit, irrespective of the result of the upcoming general election.

Gerwyn Davies, public policy adviser at CIPD, says this could result in hundreds of thousands of jobs being lost in the UK.

"This will have a greater impact on women than men, who make up more than a third of the total public sector workforce compared to just one-sixth of the private sector," he added.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK unemployment rate is currently 2.46 million.

Links:

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

Categories: Employment Trends