Pay Cuts in Private Sector

[rabbit]

Most self employed people I know have seen earnings drop 20 to 80 %....many are digging in to savings / family borrowings / bank borrowings etc. Many people have their own little business, be it auctioneer, tradesperson, repair person, salesperson , shopkeeper , seller of luxury goods etc.

 

[DeeFox]

I work in a property related field and while I haven't got a pay cut I also have not gotten a rise since early 2007 - so no pay rise in 2 years. There is no security in the job - my employer really could go under at any time. A lot of people who I would have reason to deal with on a regular basis (e.g. Architects, Quantity surveyors, Solicitors, etc.) are on short weeks and a number have been let go. And I can see this getting a lot worse as the year goes on as the work is simply not there for them.

 

[BoscoTalking]

Husbands place have announced hiring freeze, layoffs for some staff, and freeze on pay and bonus for a year to be reviewed then.
I have seen no cuts although there is reduced wastage (always welcome) and people are not being replaced as they leave head off on mat leave etc.

 

[antimonarch]

The main quantity surveying and project management companies in Dublin have all cut wages by 15 to 30%. And all are on schedule to reduce their resource to half of what it was in early 2008 i.e. if they had 200 staff by summer 2009 they will have 100. This is a depressing fact but the people who remain in these companies on a much lower income are the lucky ones. The majority of QS's and PM's that got let go since autumn are still unemployed.

The private sector is being decimated but all you hear on TV and in the papers is about the pension levy on guaranteed jobs. With more tax increases on the way for the private sector and the public sector one wonders where this all will go with the real possibility that 10's of 1000's of construction/property related degree qualified professionals will default on their mortgage payments.

 

[ludermor]

The main quantity surveying and project management companies in Dublin have all cut wages by 15 to 30%. And all are on schedule to reduce their resource to half of what it was in early 2008 i.e. if they had 200 staff by summer 2009 they will have 100. This is a depressing fact but the people who remain in these companies on a much lower income are the lucky ones. The majority of QS's and PM's that got let go since autumn are still unemployed.

The private sector is being decimated but all you hear on TV and in the papers is about the pension levy on guaranteed jobs. With more tax increases on the way for the private sector and the public sector one wonders where this all will go with the real possibility that 10's of 1000's of construction/property related degree qualified professionals will default on their mortgage payments.

Most of the QS practices are on their second round of pay cuts at the minute, there was approx 20% paycut across the board last aug/sept and of course as soon as 1 company does the rest follow. The largest practice and now down to scaling back/transfeering associate directors so there is not that many workers left below this level with rumours of 40 staff to be let go in the next few weeks.