Gloomy outlook for pay and jobs in private sector

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Workers in private sector face year of stagnant wages and few chances to move, as pay and hiring suffer coronavirus fallout

By Daily Mail City & Finance Reporter

Published: | Updated:

Workers in the private sector are set for a year of stagnant wages and few chances to move, as pay and hiring suffer the fallout from coronavirus. 

More than half of private sector firms expect to freeze pay over the next 12 months, according to the latest Labour Market Outlook from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). 

Slow motion: More than half of private sector firms expect to freeze pay over the next 12 months

And just two in five employers plan to recruit new staff in the three months to July 2020, the lowest level since the CIPD survey began in 2005. 

Worryingly, 22 per cent of organisations said they expect to make redundancies before July, as the economic uncertainty begins to bite. 

However, employers who have furloughed staff and claimed 80 per cent of their wages from the Government said that, on average, they would have had to make 35 per cent of their staff redundant had it not been for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. 

Gerwyn Davies, senior labour market adviser for the CIPD, said: ‘Employees should brace themselves for pay freezes or even pay cuts to help preserve jobs.’

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