Tony Dolphin, senior economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said a prediction on unemployment levels was difficult as the jobs market today was different to how it had been in preceding recessions.
He noted that optimists may argue that the current labour market is more flexible than was seen in the 1990s or 1980s.
"No-one really knows where the truth lies. Some jobs will be saved by job-cut packages, but whether that is enough to have a very significant effect, I guess my answer would be no," Mr Dolphin warned.
His comments follow a report this week from the Trades Union Congress stating that the current recession is more like the deep 1980s recession than the more shallow 1990s downturn.
Furthermore, the findings noted that unemployment levels were also worse than seen in the previous two economic downturns.
