Hundreds of thousands of jobs to go in first quarter

Economists have recently predicted that in the first quarter of this year hundreds of thousands of jobs in a variety of sectors could be lost in the UK. Already this year newspaper headlines have been filled with depressing news about various big name companies having to cut thousands of jobs, as the recession continues to take its toll, and the problem is set to get worse.

In fact, a recent report suggests that in the first quarter of the year around three hundred thousand jobs could be lost in different sectors, equating to around one hundred thousand jobs a month for the first three months of the year. Economists described this as the worst year for jobs in two decades, stating that a further three hundred thousand jobs could go between April and the end of the year.

One industry official said: ‘Managers will be attempting to perform the organisational equivalent of emergency triage. Staff will be traumatised by news of colleagues losing jobs, anxious that they might be next, or simply feeling hard done by because their pay and perks are being scaled back.’ He added: ‘In retrospect, 2008 will be seen as merely the slow-motion prelude to what will be the worst year for jobs in almost two decades.’

Another official said: ‘This current recession threatens to be catastrophic, as it is different in nature to any other recession ever to hit the UK. We are helplessly buffeted by the economic winds of a global recession.’