The merger of the big four could hit salaries and skew the market in favour of employers.
Recruitment consultancy AA Appointments predicted that the deals could affect pay as it released the results of its 2007 salary survey.
But AA Appointments managing director John Tolmie said it is unlikely that salaries will fall as a result of the consolidation.
“It’s highly unlikely salaries will go backwards but they may not go forward as quickly. It may turn the employees’ market into an employers’ market. You only need so many product managers for example,” he said.
But it is not necessarily bad news, he added. “It could have a calming impact. Where salaries have been heading up and up, if fewer jobs are being fought over by more people, it could stabilise this.”
Much will depend on the number of jobs shed and in which areas of the industry the axe falls.