UK heads redundancy fear league

UK workers fear for their jobs

UK workers fear losing their job to a greater degree than employees in any other major world economy, a survey has said.

Nearly three in 10 UK workers said they thought it was "very likely" that they would be laid off during the next year.

Workers in France, Germany and Spain were far more confident, according to consultancy firm RightCoutts.

However, UK workers are the most confident that they can find a new job following redundancy.

Vulnerable?

Workers in Britain, Hong Kong and the US felt the most vulnerable to the axe, according to the study which surveyed 9,624 employees in 17 countries

Confidence among US workers has grown since the last survey was conducted in March this year.

But in the UK the situation has worsened, with 29.1% saying they thought the chance of redundancy was very likely, against 27.5% in March.

The biggest deterioration in job confidence occurred in the Netherlands - 18.6% said they were very likely to face the axe compared with 10.2% earlier in the year.

UK workers rate themselves as among the most likely to be able to find work if made redundant - 19.7% feel it would be easy to find a new job, compared with only 3.8% of those in Germany.

"UK workers can take some reassurance from this survey in their perceived ability to find a new job if need be," said Jo Bond, deputy managing director of RightCoutts.

"As an indication of job mobility, this shows the UK to be far ahead of most European countries, and Germany in particular."