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Headline figures ‘miss the scale’ of job situation

The impact of the recession on workers has been “much deeper” than official unemployment figures showed, with more than 1.3 million people losing their job since the start of the downturn, according to a new report today.

A study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) showed that two thirds of people made redundant were paid an average of 28% less when they managed to find another job.

The research revealed that 1.31 million people were made redundant during the recession - double the net fall in employment and equivalent to 4.4% of people in work before the downturn.

Dr John Philpott, Chief Economic Adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said: “Although the scale of job loss in the recession is much less than originally feared and much less than might have been expected given the scale of the contraction in the economy, it is evident that the direct experience of redundancy, repeat spells of unemployment and pay penalties has nonetheless been widespread.

“Moreover, given that redundancy also affects the families, friends and former colleagues of those made redundant the full experience of the jobs recession has been wider still. This is likely to have a much greater impact on perceptions of job security and consumer confidence during the recovery than the simple ‘unemployment situation is better than feared’ story of the moment would suggest.”

The study also highlighted mow difficult many people are finding the hunt for a permanent job, with 6.2 million fresh claims for Jobseeker’s Allowance between April 2008 and November 2009 – that’s 7.5 times the rise in the unemployment claimant count during the recession.

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