Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Latest NewsEconomics, government & business

Government cuts risk “crippling” the economy, warns the CIPD

by Laura Chamberlain 26 Jul 2011
by Laura Chamberlain 26 Jul 2011

The Government’s strategy for reducing the deficit risks “crippling the economy for years to come”, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has warned.

The comments came as official figures showed that GDP grew by 0.2% in the second quarter of 2011, following a 0.5% increase during the first three months of the year.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) report, the Royal Wedding bank holiday and the Japanese tsunami were partly to blame for the “modest” growth figures, although it stated that their net impact could not be precisely determined.

However, the CIPD, The Work Foundation and the TUC have claimed that the figures point to a need for the Government to rethink its current strategy for stimulating growth.

The CIPD’s chief economic adviser Dr John Philpott described the low growth figures as “desperately poor”.

“We must be careful to not attach undue weight to excuses about preliminary statistical measurement or the special ‘one-off factors’ highlighted by the ONS,” Philpott explained. “The emerging underlying path of GDP growth and forward looking indicators show that the UK economy is being starved of the demand needed to raise output substantially, create enough jobs to cut unemployment and prevent a further deterioration in the fiscal deficit.

“With the effectiveness of a further bout of quantitative easing far from clear, and even the most growth-friendly supply side measures unlikely to work properly in a demand vacuum, surely the Government must now come up with urgent plans to alter a fiscal policy stance, which mounting evidence suggests the economy simply can’t bear at present.”

Andrew Sissons, researcher at The Work Foundation, added that the figures confirm the “long-standing suspicion” that the recovery is struggling to gain momentum.

Sissons explained: “These results will have serious consequences for the labour market. Over the last year, the economy has created more than 300,000 jobs without any significant growth in output. This jobs recovery is very unlikely to be sustained without much stronger GDP growth over the coming months.”

However, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) argued that the figures show the Government is right to persevere with the cuts.

David Kern, chief economist at the BCC, explained: “These figures were slightly worse than our forecast of 0.3%, but they reassure us that the UK recovery is still on course, and fears of a double-dip recession are not justified.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

“There is no need to consider changes in fiscal policy or talk about the need for a plan B. However, we mustn’t be complacent. Growth is weak and this is due to both a lack of demand and inadequate supply potential.”

More information on the ONS figures is available on XpertHR’s Employment Intelligence blog.

Laura Chamberlain

previous post
Five key questions to ask before implementing a healthcare cash plan
next post
Jobseekers rate pay over job satisfaction

You may also like

Performance management is broken: how can we rebuild?

11 Jul 2025

Gregg Wallace case: don’t be too hasty to...

11 Jul 2025

‘Replace sick notes with gym’, Streeting tells GPs

11 Jul 2025

Workers with second jobs at an all-time high

11 Jul 2025

How using data can transform return-to-office mandates

11 Jul 2025

Ministers loosen fire and rehire proposals in Employment...

10 Jul 2025

£188k tribunal award for director sacked after cardiac...

10 Jul 2025

It’s no secret – parity in the workplace...

10 Jul 2025

Firms’ salary secrecy means ‘they lose out on...

10 Jul 2025

Court of Appeal rules that Ryanair agency pilot...

9 Jul 2025

  • Empower and engage for the future: A revolution in talent development (webinar) WEBINAR | As organisations strive...Read more
  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+