City jobs market bouncing back as economy lifts
THE CITY jobs market is at last recovering from the crash, a series of recruiters said today, with “business as usual” positions being created.
January saw the creation of 3,350 new jobs according to recruiters Astbury Marsden, up 34 per cent on the same month a year ago and the largest number in 18 months.
“Optimism is high that the improvement in the City jobs market is part of a sustained recovery rather than a short term bounce in business activity,” said Astbury Marsden’s Mark Cameron.
The years since the financial crisis have seen tens of thousands of staff laid off and banks focus on recruiting risk managers and regulatory experts to cope with the torrent of new rules.
But now they are beginning to hire more pro-active staff.
Meanwhile Venn Group found a 35 per cent rise in hiring “business as usual” staff in areas across operations and finance in the final three months of 2013.
“It’s a trend we haven’t seen in some time, as for the past few years, interim hiring has been focused on the more specialist skills to see the banks through complex and ever-changing regulatory requirements,” said director Rob McLeod.
“The fact that day-to-day roles are on the increase… spells good news for the sector as a whole.”
The Association of Professional Staffing Companies said permanent professional staff placements increased by 8.4 per cent in the year to January, driven by technology firms – 44 per cent in the sector expect to hire more staff this year.