The
UK’s working population suffer more anxiety over their jobs than staff employed
in any other developed economy.
According
to a survey of nearly 10,000 staff worldwide, 28 per cent of the UK’s working
population believe they could lose their job in the next 12 months.
The
next most insecure employees are in the US, where 27 per cent of workers are
concerned over the future of their jobs.
In
Japan, 20.5 per cent of staff have job security concerns, in Germany the figure
is 14.9 per cent and in France 13.7 per cent.
Of
the respondents in Italy, only 4 per cent are worried about their jobs and in
Belgium and Norway just 5.7 per cent of workers have employment worries.
Jo
Bond, deputy managing director at consultancy Right Coutts, said that the
reason employees in the UK and the US feel least secure about their jobs, is
because employers have more power to hire and fire in these countries.
“This
survey shows that job insecurity is being felt most by workers in the UK,
despite the recent fall in unemployment seen in UK Government figures,” said
Bond.
"Across
Europe, workers in some countries, notably Belgium and Italy, are less worried
about redundancy, perhaps due to the existence of stronger laws protecting
employees’ rights. By contrast, the US and UK job markets are more flexible,
and employers have more power to ‘hire and fire’.”
However,
the study also reveals that UK workers are relatively optimistic about their
chances of obtaining similarly paid jobs if made redundant, with 21 per cent
believing this would be easy, compared to just 4 per cent in Germany and 8 per
cent in Italy.
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