CIPD has forecast a lack of jobs and pay rises in 2009.

Job opportunities and the value of average pay rises in 2009 are “deteriorating at an alarming rate” – the worst in two decades, according to the winter Labour Market Outlook (LMO) survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) and professional service organisation KPMG.

The study revealed that more than one in three employers plan to cut jobs during the first quarter of 2009 – double the number reported in the previous LMO survey – while only 27% plan to employ new staff. In addition, one in eight do not foresee any pay reviews at all for the year.

John Philpott, CIPD’s Chief Economist, explained the LMO report: “These latest LMO figures suggest that job prospects are deteriorating at an alarming rate. The labour market outlook is clearly even worse than expected at the turn of the year. Official statistics later this week will confirm that unemployment passed 2 million at the end of 2008. It now seems sadly inevitable that UK unemployment will top 3 million before the jobs market finally starts to recover”.

The LMO survey is substantiated by the Institute’s annual Barometer Report, which predicted a total of 600,000 job losses throughout the year and the prospect of poor pay packets for employees.