More than half (56%) of employees in the public sector who would consider moving into the private sector fear they lack the appropriate skills to do so.
This is according to research by recruitment consultants Badenoch & Clark, which also found that workers in local government were the most concerned that their skills would not help them get a job in the private sector.
The findings follow last week’s announcement in the Comprehensive Spending Review that 490,000 public sector jobs are likely to be cut.
A recent survey by recruitment consultants Hays found that employers have a similar view, with 90% of private sector firms not believing that public sector experience is valuable when hiring.
Nicola Linkleter, head of public sector recruitment at Badenoch & Clark, said: “This research highlights that the transition from the public sector to the private sector, for the 500,000 people expected to lose their jobs, may not be as easy as some have claimed.
“Not only must we question whether the private sector can pick up the slack in terms of volume, but there are clearly issues around how much support the public sector workers will require to make the move.”
Unsurprisingly, half of public sector workers believed that the results of the Spending Review would have a negative effect on staff retention and 57% said they are likely to move on from their current job in the near future.
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Yet, 44% of public sector workers felt that they would not need to retrain to move to private companies and the same amount said they hoped to remain in the public sector for life.
Badenoch & Clark surveyed 1001 public sector workers across local government, central government, housing and charities sectors and the NHS.
