Consultation and communication 'more prevalent in this recession than others'

Reports suggest that there is more communication in this recession than previous ones which have been characterised by "confrontation and aggravation", according to an expert.

Alastair Hatchett, head of pay at Income Data Services (IDS), said that an important factor in this recession was that managers are keen to avoid redundancies because there is little capacity to cut and they realise that they may need to hang onto staff when things picks up.

The report also says that the number of people claiming jobseeker benefits was not anywhere near the levels seen in the 1990s.
Brendan Barber, the Trades Union Congress leader, on Tuesday warned workers to expect job losses to continue well beyond the worst trough of the recession.

"Even if this is not a false dawn, it will be years before the thousands of people who have lost their jobs or who will lose them in months to come will see anything to celebrate," he said.

It comes as new government statistics show that the proportion of 16-to-18-year-olds not currently in education, employment or training has increased from 9.7 per cent at the end of 2007 to 10.3 per cent at the end of 2008.