City vacancies up as firms hire compliance experts
CITY job vacancies bounced back in January as financial services firms renewed hiring in the New Year, recruitment data shows today.
But weak market conditions and intense pressure from regulators is still hitting jobs, with last month’s recruitment numbers still well down on those seen a year ago.
And those looking for work are often not those finance firms want, with a skills shortage in compliance driving wages up again among those who did get new jobs last month.
Morgan McKinley’s London employment monitor showed 2,331 new jobs came onto the market in January, a 76 per cent jump from December’s 1,323. But the seasonal rise was not enough to offset the wider downward trend in City employment – last month’s figure is down 18 per cent on the 2,835 new jobs in January 2012.
At the same time the number of professionals entering the market for new jobs rose 74 per cent from 2,915 in December to 5,065 in January. Again that is down 26 per cent on the 6,827 in January 2012.
Recruiter Morgan McKinley believes the figures show the City is on track to shed 13,000 jobs this year, as forecast by the Centre for Economics and Business Research.
“From the job seekers’ perspective the rise in professionals entering the hiring market is partly attributed to some renewed confidence but also a lack of patience; those who anticipate small or zero bonuses try to get ahead of the game and make the move before peers who might be awaiting bonus payments later in the quarter,” said Hakan Enver from Morgan McKinley.
“In addition, redundancy announcements seek to have peaked – staff from teams laid off in the fourth quarter are now coming into the market hoping for a new opportunity.”
For those who did get a job, their salary increased by an average of 24 per cent compared with their previous role, illustrating the increasing shortage of suitably skilled workers.
“Adhering to regulatory change continues to be where the hiring market is busiest; compliance hiring is focused on anti-money laundering and prevention of financial crime following high profile cases linked to organised crime and terrorism,” explained Enver.