Job openings in financial services just jumped
If you're thinking about changing jobs, now may be the time to pounce, after new figures found the number of openings in the financial services sector almost doubled in January.
Morgan McKinley's London Employment Monitor found the number of openings in the sector rose to 9,015 in January, up 81 per cent from the 4,980 available in December.
However, the figure was two per cent lower than the same month last year, when job openings increased 115 per cent. And it's worth pointing out December's figures were pretty weak.
The number of people looking for new jobs in the sector jumped 83 per cent from December, to 12,068 – although that's down 29 per cent on the year before.
Meanwhile, wage growth held steady, with the average salary increase when people swap jobs staying level year-on-year at 18 per cent – although that was up from 13 per cent in December.
Read more: Banking is the best-paid profession – but which bankers earn the most?
It isn't all bad: much has been made of bankers' threats to move jobs abroad, with HSBC's Douglas Flint, UBS' Andrea Orcel and Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein all threatening to up sticks after Brexit. Indeed, last week Goldman Sachs moved one of its hedge fund teams to New York.
But it seems not all companies in the sector are ready to flee: the study suggested a "handful" of top financial services institutions are openly shopping around for new office space in Canary Wharf, while a study by salary benchmarking site Emolument found 59 per cent of financial services professionals expect their companies to perform better in 2017.
Hakan Enver, operations director at Morgan McKinley, suggested the slowdown in job openings may be a symptom of uncertainty.
“If the January jobs surge isn’t in the triple digits, something’s off. Until the terms of Brexit are known and put in motion, the jobs market will remain cautious.
"The desire to hire is strong. The desire to take on new opportunities is strong. Everyone’s just waiting for the government to get on with it."