More employees fear losing their jobs this year amid a challenging economic environment, according to research from Randstad UK.

The research showed that more than four in every ten workers (42%) told Randstad they now feared losing their jobs, compared to 28% a year ago.
The growing fear of job cuts in the UK contrasted with the confidence of workers in North America, where only 28% were worried about redundancies.  In Japan, fears are more muted still, with only 18% of workers being worried by the threat of redundancy. Elsewhere in Europe, only 36% and 37% of workers in Portugal and Poland are worried by the threat of job losses respectively.

Randstad researched the views of 27,000 workers from 34 markets across Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas. 

Victoria Short, Randstad’s chief executive in the UK & Ireland, said, “The concerns of workers are not entirely unjustified. It’s clear the jobs market is cooling with softer than expected UK wage data out this week. This on top of news that inflation in the UK rose in December. This is playing a part in the growing anxiety among workers here amid the continued cost of living crisis and pressures on employers.”

“Not only that, but AI has started to upend many norms and expectations in the workplace,” Short said. “More than ever, workers need to learn new skills to fit into evolving businesses. Reskilling is no longer a tool for career advancement but a tool for survival. It’s no accident that the most wanted skill development is around technology, including of course, AI. Career-wise we are entering the most challenging time for most since the pandemic. Either way, you will see more anxiety in the workplace this year.”
When asked if they would quit their job if their employer didn’t take into account requests for better conditions, 32% of workers agreed, down from 36% last year. And while last year a majority of workers in the UK (56%) said they’d quit a job if they felt like they didn’t belong there, that number has since fallen to less than a quarter (24%).