75% of UK Workers are Confident that their Job is Secure

KENT, United Kingdom, July 18 -- Legal & General Group issued the following news release:

Legal & General's 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

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 one in ten, (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.

Legal & General's 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. Nearly three in ten, 28%, 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. Over half (55%) of all respondents said that they would consider working part time if they were to lose their job.

Mark Holweger, Director of Legal & General's general insurance business said: "It's really encouraging and refreshing to see such levels of confidence by UK workers. (This finding appears to be in line with the more positive news released today by the ONS. ) It's also interesting to see such a positive attitude towards potential unemployment, with so many keen to consider other employment options such as becoming self-employed or starting a business. This increased confidence will hopefully be reflected in the consumer market to the benefit of the UK economy, as well as the individuals concerned.

"However, what is a significant worry is that that over two thirds of workers (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 can be found in the first attachment -Job Security Index Essential and Non Essential Payments (http://www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/_pdfs/press-release/LegaGeneralJobSecurityIndexEssentialandNonessentialpayments.doc)

KEY REGIONAL FINDINGS

The second attachment -Job Security Index Regional Findings (http://www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/_pdfs/press-release/JobSecurityIndexRegionalbeakdownsJuly2012.doc) - 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.

Legal & General has 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, of a customer's choice, should they be unable to work due to accident, sickness or involuntary unemployment. Customers wanting further information may go to www.legalandgeneral.com/lifestyle, call 0800 197 2351 or contact their normal financial adviser.

TNS C-PreetiSi97 120719-mv45-3957255