Adults in the UK feel the credit crunch has made their jobs less secure, a poll has suggested.
Of the 2,000 people polled by Lloyds TSB, two-thirds said that job prospects were bleaker than they were last year.
A further quarter of people felt their job were less safe than a year ago.
There was also worry expressed over the future of the economy, as predictions for the coming year included a rise in interest rates and food and fuel prices.
Trevor Williams, chief economist at Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets, said: "If people don't feel safe in their job and high prices are putting incomes under pressure then demand for discretionary purchases will naturally slow."
He also commented that inflation and lack of job assurance equal a "lethal cocktail" for spending.
The Guardian recently reported that global food prices are up by 75 per cent, due to the increasing amount of crops siphoned off to produce biofuels.
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