City jobs bump bucks trend as salaries entice workers
City hiring picked up in August, bucking the downward trend of the past year amid uncertainty over the status of financial services post-Brexit, data to be published today will show.
The number of jobs available in the Square Mile rose by 10 per cent during the month, according to recruitment firm Morgan McKinley – although still 33 per cent lower than the same point last year.
Hiring has been dampened by continuing uncertainty over the future of the City’s cross-border financial services as Brexit approaches on 29 March 2019.
If negotiators between the UK and the EU do not reach an agreement on a transitional arrangement after that date large parts of the City will be unable to service clients in the EU.
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Hakan Enver, managing director at Morgan McKinley Financial Services, said: “With Brexit six months away and no consensus in sight, it’s astonishing to see so many new jobs open up”.
The increase was particularly notable given that hiring in the City tends to fall during the summer holidays. Aside from the surge in new jobs available at the start of the year, August saw the fastest month-on-month growth in the number of jobs since March 2017.
Meanwhile, the number of job seekers edged up by two per cent month-on-month, after a 21 per cent increase in July.
Increases in salaries are likely the “greatest contributor” to the increase in people eager to move jobs, said Enver.
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