Workers in Great Britain and the United States are among the most pessimistic in the world about the possibility of losing their jobs, according to a global job confidence level survey released on Wednesday.
More than one out of four British - 27.5 per cent of fulltime workers - believe they could lose their job in the coming year, revealed the first global Career Confidence Index conducted by Right Management Consultants.
In the US, 26.6 per cent of workers say they could lose their jobs, while in Hong Kong, 24 per cent say their jobs may be at risk. In Canada, Australia, Japan and Switzerland, that number drops to one out of five workers.
Workers around the world were uniformly gloomy about job prospects for the unemployed in their own countries. In 16 of 17 countries surveyed, two-thirds or more of the workforce said it would be somewhat or very difficult for a laid-off employee to find comparable work.
"The results of this survey paint a dismal picture about job markets worldwide," said Richard J Pinola, chairman and CEO of the Philadelphia-based career transition and organisational consulting firm.
The American results pushed the Right Management Consultants Career Confidence Index to a new low from December, when one of five Americans believed there was a possibility they could lose their job.
"We are seeing a new level of pessimism among American workers," observed Pinola, adding that the stalled economy, flat business prospects and months of uncertainty about the Iraq war were taking their toll.
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