Buoyant City hiring so many staff that firms run out of applicants
A SKILLS shortage is starting to threaten the City’s recovery as finance firms are struggling to hire all the staff they need, recruiter Robert Half warned yesterday.
Finance firms are taking on staff at a rate last seen in the boom years before the financial crisis, but the sudden turnaround in the labour market means that there are problems finding the right workers.
Robert Half found 44 per cent of finance firms were actively increasing their headcount this year – a sharp increase from the 29 per cent who were expanding this time last year.
The number keeping headcount steady is down from 61 per cent to 49 per cent.
And the proportion with a recruitment freeze has fallen from nine per cent to seven per cent.
As a result, 93 per cent of finance bosses said they were struggling to fill all their vacancies.
The primary reason was a lack of specific skills, closely followed by competition from other firms trying to hire the same staff.
“Skills shortages across the UK economy are becoming a major issue, with this deficit putting businesses at increasing risk,” said Robert Half’s Phil Sheridan.
“Our figures show that financial services and finance and accounting, in particular, are current and future growth areas, with professionals being highly sought after and commanding premium remuneration.”