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Political parties have clashed over job cuts as the public spending row dominates the election campaign.Chancellor Alistair Darling said Tory plans for £12bn spending cuts would mean thousands of job losses.
But the Tories say their plans include a hiring freeze, not job cuts, and say it is Labour's National Insurance rise that would be a "jobs killer".
The Lib Dems say the Tories must "come clean" about their plans, and would "salami slice" the public sector.
The row over tax and spending has dominated the election campaign so far after the Conservatives and Labour clashed over a planned National Insurance (NI) rise for April 2011.
'Fantasy' savings
Gordon Brown says the 1% rise for people earning more than £20,000 is needed to protect health, education and police spending.
But David Cameron says it is a "tax on jobs" and Tory plans to curb the rise - funded by their efficiency savings plans - are "deliverable", after Labour ministers suggested they were a "fantasy".
Conservative adviser Sir Peter Gershon, who used to be the government's efficiency adviser, told the Financial Times that £9.5bn could be saved by cutting IT costs, renegotiating contracts, curbing consultants.
He said "perhaps £1bn to £2bn" could be saved by curbing recruitment - prompting estimates that 20,000 - 40,000 public sector jobs could go.
Dave Prentis, head of Unison, said: "It is becoming clear that David Cameron's so-called efficiency savings mean misery for hundreds of thousands of people who rely on public services and for the people who deliver them."
But Conservative leader Mr Cameron told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the savings were "do-able" and "deliverable" adding: "It's not talking about people losing their jobs, it's talking about not filling vacancies as they arise."
'Back office'
He said Sir Peter had outlined areas that could be cut - but a Tory government would make changes in consultation with the Treasury.
"The exact balance between things like procurement, recruitment and IT should be decided calmly and reasonably with the Treasury if we are elected on 6 May."
He did not say how many fewer jobs there might be under a Conservative government, but told the BBC about 400,000 jobs became available in the public sector each year as people leave.
He said not replacing "back office" and management jobs meant more money could be saved for the front line and denied it was a "plan to fire people".
Chancellor Alistair Darling said the Conservative plans would cost jobs, not just in the public sector, but in private companies which rely on contracts for services like IT support and agency work.
He said: "It is now clear from [David Cameron's] interview on Today - and he was unable to deny this - that additional heavy cuts will have to be made in public sector spending and jobs from this year onwards and that tens of thousands of jobs will be lost, not just in the public sector but in the private sector as well, where they depend on government contracts."
However Treasury minister Stephen Timms told the BBC the government's own plans to save £15bn would involve redundancies.
"There will be some job losses, without a doubt," he told the Daily Politics.
And shadow chancellor George Osborne seized on Mr Darling's comment that any job losses from Labour's National Insurance hike would be "manageable".
"Why doesn't Alistair publish what we know exists, which is the internal Treasury study on how many jobs will be lost as a result of the National Insurance increase?" Mr Osborne told the BBC.
Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said it appeared Sir Peter Gershon was "looking to immediately slash employment throughout the public sector".
He said: "The Tories are guilty of the worst type of salami slicing - cutting with no regard for what is useful or wasteful spending."
But his party leader Nick Clegg told GMTV he would make some job cuts.
He highlighted the NHS, questioning the role of strategic health authorities.
"These are pen pushers in the NHS, get rid of them so we can use the money... to protect the A&E departments, the maternity units, the GP services."
He said 5,000 more "bureaucrats" were employed in the NHS last year, while the number of nurses had only increased by 2%.This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.