Businesses ‘reject public sector workers’

A new survey has revealed that many private sector employers would be hesitant to take on applicants who had previously worked in the public sector, adding to concerns over Britain’s jobs recovery.

Research carried out by Barclays Corporate and the Financial Times indicated that although over half of the 500 businesses polled planned to generate new roles this year, three-quarters felt there would be insufficient positions generated to soak up state redundancies.

A total of 57 per cent said they would have no interest in taking on former public sector staff, with 52 per cent citing concerns over their lack of transferable skills as the main reason for preferring those with a private sector background.

“I think it’s very dangerous, attaching labels to people based on where they’ve worked,” Barclays Corporate managing director Kevin Wall told the BBC. “You’re going to miss out on potentially a lot of good hires.”

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Last week, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the UK’s rate of unemployment had edged up to 7.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Posted by Cameron Thomson