More than 330,000 jobs in the business services sector will be lost by 2011, researchers have warned.
The economics think tank said by 2013 there would still be 311,000 fewer jobs in business services than there were at the sector’s peak in 2008.
The CEBR report said: “The business services sector will suffer dearly from the recession, more than half of the jobs it gained during the past five years will be lost over the next five years.”
The advertising sector is expected to be worst hit, with 15,000 jobs likely to be lost by 2011.
The business services sector will also be particularly hard hit by the recession because of its reliance on discretionary budgets and public sector spending, which could be reduced by as much as 10% over the period.
The sector, which previously accounted for one third of all new jobs created in the UK, will see a fall of 8% from its peak in 2008 by 2013.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
Arek Ohanissian, one of the authors of the report, said: “Though most sectors in the UK economy will suffer from the recession, the dramatic reversal of fortunes for the business services sector from strong performance to significant losses would have been hard to imagine even at the onset of the financial crisis.”
Last week Personnel Today revealed the number of jobs lost in the public sector could reach 578,000 by 2012.
