Recruitment difficulties forecast by KPMG/CIPD

A slowdown in the jobs market has been forecast by Big Four firm KPMG.

Alongside the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), the auditor has produced the Labour Market Outlook survey that has revealed the number of companies intending to make redundancies in the first quarter of 2008 has increased.

Over the course of January, one-fifth of businesses questioned were intending to make job cuts, with a quarter stating more than ten people are likely to be asked to leave the company in the near future.

Following last week's survey by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation which showed the UK labour market is still growing despite slowing demand, CIPD's Chief Economist, John Philpott, remained upbeat about the figures.

'With net recruitment activity still positive, signs of mounting employer pessimism shouldn't be read as evidence of a jobs market approaching meltdown,' he said.

Chief Economist at KPMG, Andrew Smith, added that the data reflects an uncertain economic future.