When looking at the medium term, insecurity increases and the gap between the public and private sector widens further. Some 37% of people said they felt their job was not secure over the next three years, including 40% of public sector workers and 35% of people in the private sector. Uncertainty rises significantly among the older age group, with almost half (48%) of public sector workers over the age of 55 saying they feel their job is not secure, compared with just over a third (36%) of their private sector peers.
This trend reverses among the younger employees, with 77% of public sector workers aged 16-24 feeling their job is secure over the next 12 months, compared with 71% of private sector workers in this age group. However, feelings of job security decline over the medium term, with 67% of public sector workers aged 16-24 feeling secure over the next three years, compared with 58% of their peers in the private sector.
Almost half of workers (48%) in both sectors said they are saving for uncertain future events such as redundancy. Most people in both sectors said that they had increased how much they spend on essential living costs (79% of public sector workers and 77% of private sector workers). This rises to 93% of public sector workers between the ages of 45-54.
Almost a third (31%) of workers in both sectors are now saving less than they did six months ago and 10% of public sector workers and 7% of private sector workers now borrow more than they did six months ago, and of these, 28% said that they had increased their borrowing to pay for mortgage payments or rent, a figure higher for private sector workers (30%) than public sector workers (25%).
Richard Brown, senior savings product manager at HSBC, said: "We are in a difficult financial period with many people feeling insecure about their job prospects and experiencing a squeeze in their standard of living. While this feeling of a lack of job security is particularly acute among older people in the public sector, everyone seems to be feeling the squeeze on their finances.
"While spending may be curbed, it is important for people to put aside sums of money on a regular basis to build a rainy day fund. In times of uncertainty, it is all the more important that people have contingency plans to deal with any unexpected future occurences."
Based on the median weekly gross salary of £499, the average person would need £1,667.25 in savings for every month they spent in unemployment to maintain the standard of living they had while they were working. Although many people will have found work relatively quickly, according to the ONS Labour Market Survey (February 2011), 1.2 million people were out of work at some point in the past six months, meaning that they would need a significant savings pot to cover the unexpected redundancy.
The findings are based on an online survey of 2,280 UK adults split by public sector and private sector workers. It was conducted between 17 March and 30 March 2011.
