(From People Management) -- A third of firms are maintaining staff levels higher than they need, predominately to retain skills in the downturn, according to new CIPD research.

But companies will make redundancies if economic growth fails to materialize soon, found the institute’s latest Labour Market Outlook. The survey of 1,000 employers revealed that 31 percent of private-sector firms were keeping more staff on their books than their output required. Of those organizations, six in 10 cited the main reason as retaining a skills base.

However, 62 percent of private-sector firms felt that they would be forced to cut back on headcount if output or service delivery did not pick up in the next year. The number of organizations planning to make redundancies in the third quarter of 2012 had fallen to 29 percent from 32 percent in the past three months, found the research, conducted by YouGov for the CIPD.

Read more.