Financial sector leads professional job creation – Apsco
Landing a role in finance got easier in January as the number of vacancies soared 12 per cent on the same month last year.
Stronger demand was reflected in pay growth. Average salaries in banking jobs have gone up 4.9 per cent, according to the data released by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (Apsco) this morning.
Growth in the average salary across all UK professional sectors was 4.2 per cent.
Professional sector pay growth outpaced the UK average of two per cent recorded in the final three months of 2015 by the Office for National Statistics.
The biggest rise in median salary was in the property sector at 14.4 per cent year-on-year.
The total number of permanent vacancies on professional recruiters’ books climbed two per cent on the year. Contract vacancies, which are typically for short-term projects, rose six per cent.
Temporary vacancies jumped 10 per cent on the year in finance and accounting and increased by seven per cent in IT.
The engineering sector suffered with the number of permanent vacancies down 12 per cent.
Aspco said that the downturn in the hiring of engineers was mostly due to a succession of cutbacks in the manufacturing sector.
“Once again, employment levels have continued to climb. In fact, the size of the UK workforce is now at an all-time record high,” said Apsco chief executive Ann Swain.
“Despite widely publicised job losses at Lloyds, Barclays and Credit Suisse, the UK banking sector continues to perform well, not least because of an increase in opportunities in the regions.”
“In fact, most people employed in the sector are now based outside the captal, with firms such as Merrill Lynch and Investec creating thousands of opportunities in the Northern Powerhouse.”