Redundant Britons ‘face lower salaries for five years’

Posted 14/06/2009

People who have been made redundant could spend years living on a much smaller salary should they find another job.

This is the view of the Globalisation and Economic Policy Centre, which said it could take many people up to five years before they are again earning a salary comparable to what they earned before their redundancy.

Lead researcher Dr Richard Upward believes this is particularly true in the case of those who work in highly specialised areas such as manufacturing, as their skills will not transfer easily to other industries, the Daily Mail reports.

“The brutal truth is many of these workers will struggle to earn as much again,” he commented.

Dr Upward added that retraining may be the only way of recovering their previous standard of living, as this could expose them to new skills and make them suitable to a wider variety of jobs.

However, positive news from the manufacturing sector emerged earlier this month when the Office for National Statistics reported that output rose by 0.2 per cent during March and April.