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Private sector 'cannot absorb' rapid public sector job cuts

Published: Tuesday, 10 August 2010   Category: All Graduate job news

The private sector will struggle to take the brunt of public sector job cuts if they occur too quickly, according to one employment expert.

In news which may interest recent graduates, Dr Paul Sisson, a research fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies, suggested that the impact of the job losses should become "clearer" after the October spending review.

However, he warned that unemployment could be set to rise if the level of redundancies rises rapidly, adding further pressure to the already competitive jobs market.

"If after the October spending review there are fairly strong and fairly quick cuts to public sector employment then, based on current trends, it would be unlikely that the private sector growth would be sufficient to absorb those job losses," he said.

Dr Sisson's comments come after the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development revealed in its latest Labour Market Outlook Survey that 32 per cent of employers expect to cut jobs in the next three months.

The Institute for Employment Studies, which was founded in 1969, is an independent, national centre of expertise on productivity, manpower planning and labour market change.