Responding to official UK fourth quarter GDP figures published this morning by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Dr John Philpott, Chief Economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), warns that the outlook for jobs in both 2009 and 2010 is now certain to be worse than previously expected.
Dr Philpott comments:‘It’s no surprise that the official fourth quarter GDP figures confirm the economy is in recession throughout the second half of last year. But the speed and size of the contraction is heart shattering. Any relative optimism about the outlook for jobs this year and next has all but evaporated.
“It is now a dead cert that unemployment will rise above 3 million before the current crisis is over.”
