78% of UK workers are confident their job is secure.

Our new quarterly Job Security Index has been tracking British workers’ confidence in their job security since the start of 2012, and, despite gloomy stories that UK job creation has fallen to a three year low,* British workers are feeling very positive with job confidence being at it's highest level this year.

Brits’ confidence in their future job prospects is strong across the board. Working adults employed in full time employment are slightly more confident about their job security (77%) than those engaged in part time employment (67%), but the overall message would appear to be that people are not currently worried about their job security.

Just 3% of the workers questioned for the Job Security Index believe that they are currently at risk of unemployment and less than 8% say they are looking for a new post which can offer them better job security. 29% believe that their current job is so secure that they are not actively looking for other jobs. 

This current sentiment of UK workers mirrors the Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures, released today which show that the level of unemployment in the UK has gone down by 65,000 on the last quarter. This is a fall in the number of people that are unemployed for the second consecutive month.

Our Job Security Index, which is based on research conducted by You Gov, also asked UK workers what they would do if they were to lose their job. 28% of UK workers said they would consider starting their own business and 37% said they’d consider working on a self-employed basis as a contractor or freelancer.

Workers in Northern Ireland were the most likely to consider starting their own business (31%), followed by those in the West Midlands (30%) saying that they would consider this as an option. 55% of all respondents said that they would consider working part time if they were to lose their job.

“However, what is a significant worry is that that 68% told us that they had no cover in place to ensure they could continue to meet essential regular payments if they should lose their job. As a responsible insurer, we hope that the Job Security Index will also act as a prompt to people of how important it is to be prepared. So, if they should unfortunately find their circumstances change, then they, their family and their home would not be immediately affected and have a financial cushion in place to help.”

The essential and non-essential regular payments that were highlighted as part of the Job Security Index were as follows:

* Percentages relate to the number of respondents who rated each item essential or non-essential respectively, in the event that they were to lose their job and income was reduced.

KEY REGIONAL FINDINGS

The table below shows the regional breakdowns for respondents’ confidence in their job security and the change since the previous research for the Job Security Index was conducted in April 2012.

The table also shows the findings from the July 2012 research on the percentage of respondents in each region who said they would consider starting their own business should they lose their job, as well as the percentage of respondents who said they had no insurance cover in place to help pay their bills if they were to lose their income.

We've also produced a series of infographics (key facts with images) which help to highlight the regional findings.

Questions asked:

How confident, if at all, are you about your current job security?  (Above based on those that said very or fairly confident)

If you were to lose your job, which of the following would you consider doing? (Above based on those that said start a business)

Which, if any, of the following types of insurance do you have in place to help to pay your bills should you lose your job (Above based on those who said ‘not applicable, I don’t have any insurance in place)

We recently launched a ‘short-term’ income protection product, called Lifestyle Cover, which provides a monthly benefit for up to 12 months, to help maintain regular expenditure should you be unable to work due to accident, sickness or involuntary unemployment. If you want further information you may go to www.legalandgeneral.com/lifestyle, call 0800 197 2351 or contact your normal financial adviser.

Our Lifestyle Cover Insurance typically costs £3.90 a month for every £100 of monthly benefit. This is based on a 30-year-old customer choosing £700 of accident, sickness and unemployment monthly benefit with claims paid after a 30-day deferred period, back to day one of the claim. The cost of this insurance depends on a number of factors, such as your age, where you live and your occupation. As a result, the cost you will pay is based on your own circumstances.

There are other providers of Short Term Income Protection and other products designed to protect you against loss of income. For impartial information about insurance, please visit the website at www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk.

Sources: Our Job Security Index is based on research conducted for us by YouGov of 3037 UK representative employed adults, either employed full or part-time or self-employed, over the period 2-5 July 2012. Previous research has been conducted on our behalf by YouGov as part of the Job Security Index of 2587 employed UK adults in January 2012 and 2491 employed UK adults between 27-30 March 2012. More details available on request.

* Figures on UK job creation are part of the latest Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG jobs survey for July 2012.

** Office of National Statistics latest figures can be found at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/june-2012/statistical-bulletin.html.