More than one in three private sector employers plan to axe jobs in the next two months, according to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and recruiter Adecco.
The survey found 38% of UK private sector firms plan to make redundancies, a 50% increase on the number of employers expecting to cut jobs three months ago.
Gerwyn Davies of the CIPD said: “This is the weakest set of data we’ve seen for several years.Until now, redundancies have been low – no doubt due to the Job Retention Scheme – but we expect to see more redundancies come through this autumn, especially in the private sector once the scheme closes.
“Hiring confidence is rising tentatively, but this probably won’t be enough to offset the rise in redundancies and the number of new graduates and school leavers entering the labour market over the next few months.”
The news comes as the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) reported 22,039 jobs have been shed by restaurants so far this year. That is almost double the figure of 11,280 for the whole of 2019.
The figures revealed 1,467 restaurants have closed over this period, a 59.1% increase on the total 922 sites which closed during 2019.
Last Monday, August 3, Pizza Express became the latest operator to reveal major cuts, announcing plans to cut up to 1,100 jobs and permanently shut around 67 of its restaurants. Carluccio’s, Byron and Bella Italia owner Casual Dining Group have slipped into administration during lockdown.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR, said: “The sector was already in severe difficulties before the pandemic as a result of rapid over-expansion fuelled by private equity acquisitions, with the enforced lockdown serving to starve operators of revenue bringing restaurateurs now to their knees.”
The Government’s £500 million Eat Out to Help Out programme aims to boost customer spending by subsidising a 50% discount on food and soft drinks up to a maximum of £10 per diner on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays this month.
