| The current quarterly Labour Market Outlook survey initiated by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) predicts that unemployment in Britain could rise by 50.000 per month in the second half of 2010, to 2,8 million. The results moreover indicate that the procedure of outsourcing jobs abroad is a medium-term issue for the UK economy: One out of ten private sector companies is considering outsourcing in 2010.
Covering more than 700 public and private sector employers the poll reveals that a third of the public sector employers expect to reduce their workforce in the first quarter of 2010, while employers from all sectors plan to cut headcount in the amount of 6.2 per cent, compared with 3.8 per cent in the previous quarter. The net balance between employers willing to recruit and those thinking about cutting staff remains negative at minus 5 per cent, a fall from minus 3 per cent in the previous quarter.
John Philpott, chief economic advisor at the CIPD, states: “Alongside the spectre of deep public spending cuts, the private sector will be dealing with ongoing concerns about productivity, wage costs and inflation. With many private sector companies looking to move jobs abroad in an attempt to find the right balance between skills, quality and cost reduction, the jobs market needs all the continued support and protection it is getting from the government.”
The survey released on Monday introduces the facts that almost half (44%) of IT companies intend to relocate jobs to other countries, while 17 per cent of manufacturing companies plan to outsource employment abroad. More than half project to outsource UK jobs to India, while over a third (37 %) plan to move jobs to Eastern Europe. The main reason for companies to outsource was said to be the target to save money through lower labour costs. According to a recent article in the Financial Times online more than 5,000 job cuts have already been threatened or confirmed over the past week by employers including Birmingham City Council, Kraft, BAE Systems and administrators for the retail chains Ethel Austin and Au Naturale. In reference to a recent survey by Reuters economists expect the total amount of redundancy to remain at 7.8 per cent of the workforce, after the sudden fall of 7,000 to 2.46 million in the last month.
by Katrina Klett
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