Pick a number. Any number. Somewhere between 10.4 and 59 . . .

OK recruiters and (above all) futurologists: read this and then consider its impact.

According to research undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers, despite unemployment still being at record levels, UK workers still have itchy feet. Employees in the UK are far more likely to move jobs than either their transatlantic or European counterparts.

Management Today: Employee resignations cost £42bn a year

Apparently, the number of people resigning from their jobs has grown, from 7.7% last year, to 10.4% in 2010.

In France the figure is 4.9%; in Germany it’s 4.7%, and in the USA it’s just below the UK level at 7%.

That means good news for recruitment consultancies, but bad news for businesses who, as PricewaterhouseCoopers point out, are spending ‘up to twice as much’ on recruitment as foreign companies.

PricewaterhouseCoopers estimate that the UK economy could save itself £42bn if it could improve employee retention.

And how about these alarming facts:

• Whereas in 2009, 54% of businesses said they placed a special focus on retaining talent, this year, that’s dropped down to 36%.
• While just under half said last year that they had invested more time than usual in hiring the best staff, that number slipped to just 30% this year.
• 67% of businesses say that the reason they have recruitment difficulties is not because they can’t afford to pay wages, but because applicants don’t have the right skills for the job.
• 15% of companies even said they haven’t had any applicants.

Quite where PricewaterhouseCoopers get the figure from is unclear, but they estimate that the average cost of replacing an employee, including all the training and recruitment costs, is £25,000.

Scary stuff.

But let’s use this to get one issue straight: the weekly scaremongerings that say that 33% or (please try not to laugh!) 59% of employees are thinking of moving onto a different role will inevitably come to nothing.

Or at least not more than about 10.4%