In addition this situation will only worsen should the current eurozone crisis force the world back into recession. On the flip side, though, it seems that fewer redundancies are being made and outsourcing overseas has fallen.

Last month we heard that public sector job losses were occuring at five times the rate previously predicted by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to which the Treasury responded that they believed job creation by the private sector would substantially outweigh the public sector cuts by 2015. However, at present, the news that firms are delaying hiring should raise concern.