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Small business job losses set to slow down

Small business owners believe the worst of the recession may be over, but fear that it has another year or more left to run.

The latest quarterly survey of more than 1,000 businesses, carried out by Clifton Asset Management (CAM), reveals that 28% of firms have cut jobs over the past six months, down from 34% in the last survey.

Meanwhile 12% of owner-managers say they will need to reduce their payroll over the next six months.

And when asked how they saw their business performing over the past quarter, 38% said it had improved, with 35% saying the situation was broadly the same and 27% believing it had deteriorated.

However the positive news in the latest research from CAM, which provides specialist financial and strategic advice to SMEs, is tempered by the fact that most respondents think the recession is far from over.

Some 52% believe the economy will remain in the doldrums for another 12 months or more, with just 12% forecasting that the UK will be out of recession within six months.

“Our survey is starting to reveal real cause for hope, on the jobs front at least, that the worst is over,” said Anthony Carty, director at Clifton Asset Management. “However SMEs are at the eye of the storm and over half believe the recovery will be long and slow. This seems to chime with forecasts that we could be into 2011 before the recovery is properly under way.

“While our survey suggests that the UK’s SMEs believe the recession has bottomed out, any recovery will be slow at a time when they are bracing themselves for the ‘double whammy’ of tax increases and public spending cuts.”

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