Recent figures released by accounting firm KPMG and REC (Recruitment and Employment Confederation) show that jobs have declined at the fastest rate since November 2009. Jobs are at the lowest rate in more than 2 years, which further indicates that jobs being lost in the public sector are not gaining in the private sector.
It had been the hope of government that this would be the case but they have fallen far from the mark on this one. The coalition government has set their aim at boosting growth in the private sector along with the creation of new jobs. They had hoped that many of the more than 700,000 public workers losing their jobs would be picked up by the private sector. This is according to news released on Tuesday by Reuters.
At the current rate, not only will redundant public workers not find jobs in the private sector but hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs will be lost as well. Even so, Britain is holding fast to their austerity programme and cuts will still include those 710,000 jobs. A spokesperson for KPMG stated that this month’s figures are making for ‘grim reading.’
Unfortunately, even with the government’s stimulus package there is still some doubt as to whether or not jobs will actually be on the rise again anytime in the near future. With figures steadily declining since May of this year, there doesn’t appear to be much confidence. An executive from REC also noted that if confidence is still lacking and conditions don’t improve soon, government will need to take radically greater strides in the coming year.
Reuters concludes their news by pointing out that this particular survey points to a struggling UK economy which is intent on avoiding a double dip recession. In an effort to forestall this, it is expected that the BoE will continue to keep interest rates at 1.5%, a record low.
