Member Article

Financial turmoil leads to lower wages

The declining UK jobs market has led to staff being forced to accept lower wages, according to a survey by recruitment consultants KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

December 2008 was the third consecutive month that salaries decreased, and also saw the number of staff in permanent or temporary work fall to the lowest levels seen since the survey began in 1997.

Uising unemployment and the declining job market mean that any small business owner looking to recruit new workers is in a strong position regarding choice of staff and salary negotiations.

Kevin Green, Chief Executive of the REC, said: “These figures are deeply worrying and show that the contraction in the labour market is now rapidly accelerating.

“At a time when the Government is proposing job creation measures, the REC will be seeking urgent meetings with the Government about its proposed removal of the VAT concession in April. This change could help retain 150,000 temporary jobs at a time when we should all be working together to create employment opportunities, not taxing them out of existence.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .