Posted: Wednesday 11 August 2010
Employment Outlook
Last week saw the reporting of reasonable profits for certain major high street banks following tough economic times, possibly signalling a slow economic recovery. Despite that, the outlook is not quite as rosy for employees as suggested in an article on the BBC News website which outlines the expected implications on UK employment of the prevailing economic conditions and the anticipated public sector cuts.
The article suggests that the next quarter may be the most telling, with a large proportion of public sector employers expected to announce redundancies in that period. The possibility of redundancies is likely across all sectors, although the private sector remains the most likely place for unemployed workers to find new employment. The article reports that key factor is the rate at which the private sector can create new jobs and whether it can keep up with the pace of job losses in the public sector.
Whilst job losses are most likely to occur in local government, the true scale of cuts is unlikely to become clear until the Government releases its spending review in October.
Public and private sector employers should take care to ensure that any redundancy situations are dealt with appropriately so that employment rights are not infringed. Fair procedures should be followed and employees should be as openly involved and consulted in the process as possible.
