The Barclays Corporate Job Creation Survey 2011 questioned 500 executives of UK businesses and found that 32 percent were 'not at all interested' and 25 percent were 'not very interested' in taking on public sector workers who have been made redundant due to the government's spending cuts.

Smaller companies, with turnover of less than £5 million, were least likely to be interested in hiring former public sector workers, with 54 percent saying they were not at all interested.

In contrast, companies with turnover between £100 million and £500 million were the most interested (54 percent), compared with 45 percent of companies with turnover over £500 million.

Most businesses were unenthusiastic about public sector workers because they did not believe they would have the right skills required for taking on roles in the private sector.

Just a third of businesses believed that the public sector employees would be 'quite well-equipped'.