A lack of jobs and their poor quality will hinder Ian Duncan Smith’s plans to reform the welfare system, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

Duncan Smith, the coalition government’s work and pensions secretary, outlined his plans for welfare reform this morning, but Dr John Philpott, the CIPD’s chief economic adviser, said that the wider economy may make sweeping changes difficult.

Philpott said: “The biggest challenge facing Duncan Smith as he begins the task of delivering on his vision comes not from within the welfare system that he is in charge of but the nature of the wider economic, jobs and workplace conditions which determine the amount and quality of work on offer to the jobless.

“The UK is currently in the early stages of a jobs-light economic recovery; a recovery moreover than will be stymied by necessary deficit reduction measures which will also limit the cash available to the DWP as it attempts to tackle the multiple social disadvantage – which Duncan Smith’s department in figures published today reckons affects 5.3m people – that underlies welfare dependency.

“The UK also has far too many poorly managed workplaces offering low paid, low productivity work and characterised by high rates of labour turnover. This is the root cause of limited work incentives and results in the fast revolving door between work and worklessness that increases the risk of moving off welfare.

“Poor management, lack of investment in skills, and a proliferation of low paid insecure jobs that are attractive mainly to migrant workers stand in the way of tackling the UK’s welfare dependency problem. To pursue his vision successfully Duncan Smith will have to lead a broader government drive to fix this structural problem as well as reform our byzantine welfare system.”