By Vivienne Russell | 15 April 2013
Most businesses still do not want to hire former public sector workers, an attitude that has remained unchanged for the past two years, according to a survey published by Barclays today.
Over 700 UK businesses were polled for the Barclays job creation survey 2013, which measured their recruitment outlook and gave a snapshot of where new jobs were being created.
Despite the overall negative attitude towards ex-public sector staff – 57% of respondents said they did not want to hire them – the survey found that larger firms were beginning to change their stance. Just under half of large firms (48%) said public sector workers were well equipped to work in the private sector, compared with just 27% who took that view last year.
However, it is medium-sized firms that will spearhead job creation this year. Almost three-quarters of mid-sized firms (71%) were planning to create jobs this year, up on 65% last year. Relatively fewer large firms (65%) and small firms (48%) were planning to create new posts.
Commenting on the findings, Chris Hearn, head of education and local authorities corporate banking at Barclays, said: ‘The survey shows that the UK’s largest companies are the most interested in taking on public sector workers, as they have skills which can be transferred, yet unfortunately they are less likely to be recruiting this year.
‘This continues to leave ex-public sector workers in a challenging position, as the ongoing rebalancing of the economy means many have to seek opportunities in the private sector.’
The sector most willing to hire former public sector employees was health care. Almost two-thirds of private health care providers (64%) said they were ‘interested’ or ‘very interested’ in taking on people who had lost their jobs through government cuts.
Facilities management firms also indicated that they would be willing to take on former state employees. The survey found that 58% would be interested in hiring ex-public sector workers, a significant jump from 2% last year.
A regional breakdown of findings showed that firms located in the Eastern region, Wales and the South were most interesting in taking on ex-public sector staff. The least interested were in the East Midlands.
