The UK is experiencing its jobs downturn around one calendar quarter later than the US, a comparison of Labour Market Outlook surveys has found.

According to the comparison by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and in the US by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) recession-related job cuts are of a similar magnitude in both countries.

The SHRM LMO survey reported that one in three US employers cut jobs in the final quarter of 2008, similar to the proportion of UK employers planning job cuts in the first quarter of 2009 according to the CIPD.

Both LMO surveys show that the manufacturing sector is shedding staff at a higher rate than the rest of the economy, followed by private sector services. Both surveys also indicate that managers and professionals are being relatively hard hit.

Gerwyn Davies, CIPD public policy adviser said: “In proportionate terms the 2.6 million jobs lost to the US economy in 2008 is in line with the CIPD’s expectation that the UK economy will shed at least 600,000 in 2009. And judging by the similarity of experience in both countries there is clearly some way to go before the jobs fallout from the recession comes to an end in either country.”