7pc of East Anglians fear redundancy

More than 180,000 workers in the East of England fear they will have lost their jobs within the next 12 months, according to a poll due to be published today.

The YouGov poll commissioned by the TUC found that 7pc of the workforce in the six counties of the East were "not confident" in their employment prospects for the coming year.

But the poll also found that East of England workers were still more optimistic than their counterparts in other regions.

The TUC said 12pc of workers in London, Yorkshire and the West Midlands feared for their jobs.

Low-paid workers were less confident than their better-paid peers, and workers in firms with fewer than 250 employees were less confident than those working for large organisations of more than 1,000 people.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "These poll findings show just how many people are getting worried about losing their job in the current economic slowdown in the East of England.

"Of course this does not mean that unemployment will rise by anything like 181,000 but it does show just how jittery people have become about the economy and their own job.

"The economy will inevitably slow this year and next, given the credit crunch and the impact of higher oil, food and commodity prices.

"But there is a real danger that if everyone thinks that the downturn will be deeper than it needs to be, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"These findings add to the growing pressure on the government and economic policy makers to put growth first by doing all they can to restore confidence and boost investment," said Mr Barber.

Courtesy of EDP

28 August 2008