Job security falls for public sector
DESPITE the financial crisis, job security in the private sector after the UK’s recession was largely unchanged from the mid-2000s, according to research released today.
Analysts at the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (Niesr) show that while private sector job security held up well after the recession, feelings of security faded significantly between 2004 and 2011, altered by the UK’s economic situation.
The report’s authors said that at least part of the large change could be accredited to the 18-month recession that ran between 2008 and 2009.
The proportion of employees saying that their job was secure dipped from 68 per cent to 66 per cent in the same period for the private sector, but plummeted down from 65 to 47 per cent for government employees.
Similarly, during the same period the share of workers who said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their level of job security fell by only two percentage points in the private sector, down from 65 to 63 per cent.
Satisfaction in the public sector dropped by 18 percentage points, down to only 46 per cent.
Workers in the private sector were also more likely to say that their employers dealt with them honestly, treated employees fairly and kept their promises.
Alex Bryston, one of the report’s authors, commented: “These differences partly reflect different employer responses to recession in the two sectors. But the continuing squeeze on public finances means it is likely that there will continue to be pressure on working conditions in the public sector for some time to come.”