'Make or break' year for UK employers
The survey, from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, revealed that despite recent falls in unemployment, a third of employers in the private sector have retained staff solely to avoid losing their skills base.
However, nearly two thirds of employers warned that if economic growth does not pick up in the next twelve months, they will need to reduce staff numbers.
The author of the report, Gerwyn Davies, said, 'The tenacity with which employers are hanging on to skilled labour is a reflection of the high value they place on it and the damage they fear will be done to their businesses if they are forced to start making more redundancies'.
'The labour market is approaching a game-changing phase – one that could shape Britain's capacity to compete for a generation'.