Data from our latest London Employment Monitor shows that the London financial services jobs market remains steady.

Whilst there is a 2% decrease in available financial services jobs this remains in line with the usual summer decline in available jobs witnessed in previous years. However the figures are still 48% lower than the same time last year.

The number of professional job seekers interested in new roles fell by 24% from June 12 to July 12.

A  trend which has remained steady this year is the type of functions hiring managers are looking for; change management, compliance, risk and regulatory – where financial institutions are still looking to invest in strong talent.

As with most senior hiring managers and other experts in the recruitment market, our view on hiring in London is clouded by the continuing complexity and shifting nature of the global economy.

Watch the video below for further insights:

View and download the July Employment Monitor now.

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The latest Morgan McKinley London Employment Monitor was released this week – registering a surprise fall in job opportunities in the London financial services market from May 12 to June 12 – 33%.

After two consecutive months of increasing job opportunities from March to May, we’re actually not so surprised to see a fall – the road to economic recovery is expected to be very ‘up and down’ as Mervyn King forecast back in February. However, it’s the size of this drop that was not anticipated.

It’s hard to give specific reasons for this significant drop as we continue to operate in an unpredictable hiring market, however further economic commentators from REC/KPMG, Grant Thornton/ICAEW and the Organisation for Economic Development have all flagged that the UK and wider global economy is not exactly looking stable right now.

Eurozone issues continue as politicians within the PIIGS (Portugal , Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain) continue their discussions on bailouts, a possible Greek exit, the future of the Euro and what they need to put in place to rejuvenate their economies.

At this half year point, we are well below the number of available jobs that were in the hiring market in June 11 – 53% less to be precise and as our rolling average graph will show you we are also some way below that figure. We look forward with interest to seeing how the first month of H2 pans out. Please look out for our July 12 London Employment Monitor at the start of August.

Download or view previous London Employment Monitor from the Morgan McKinley website

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Morgan McKinley has just released its latest Employment Monitor together with the results of its yearly Bonus Satisfaction Survey.

Whilst city hiring is steadily on the increase with 17% more available jobs on the market since the last reported statistics from April 12, the Euro debt crisis coupled with the current state of the UK economy means that the total number of job seekers is still down 58% on last year’s figures.

So why has the number of job seekers dropped 58% since last year?

Well, there are several contributors but the main ones are:

• The number of available jobs is still down by 25 % year-on-year, so there is significantly fewer roles on the market for candidates to interview for.
• The poor economic background naturally leads to a lesser inclination for professionals to start looking for new jobs; also the high numbers of job seekers in May 11 was prior to the London FS market redundancies. This suggests that there was more confidence in the market in May 11 compared to now (May 12) where the uncertainty could deter professionals from leaving their current roles.
• The bonus satisfaction survey released also lends support to the lack of job seekers to an extent. Of those surveyed the satisfaction toward remuneration is leveling out with 42% saying they were satisfied with their bonus. In the past, a high level of dissatisfaction with compensation could have correlated with an increase in job seeking numbers around May-June following the bonus payout.

To view the full results of Bonus Satisfaction Survey and the May London Employment Monitor please the main website.

Also don’t forget to watch the video below where Andy Evans comments on this month’s results.

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Our monthly London Employment Monitor was the first to break news that financial services jobs in April 2012 were at its highest in six months following the Autumn downturn post October 2011.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)’s quarterly Labour Market Outlook survey, conducted by YouGov also reported positively about the state of the UK private employment in general, with 65 per cent of employers reporting that they were planning on hiring more staff in the second quarter.

Good news for the financial services market also continues as the Financial Times announced yesterday that Canary Wharf has overtaken the City of London as the biggest financial services centre in Europe after US bank JP Morgan transferred 8000 jobs from The Square Mile to its new European Headquarters at Bank Street.

photo credit: Where The Art Is

The shift in the balance of power along with the increasing job opportunities indicates that the city financial services market remains fruitful, but despite the pretence of recovery, the volume of available financial services roles is still down 48% on April 2011. In current fluctuating market conditions positive indicators like this don’t necessarily mean an end to a volatile hiring market.

Click here to read the full April London Employment Monitor.

London Employment Monitor April 12 Highlights

• The number of newly available financial services jobs rose by 19% from March 12 to April 12
• Compared to the same time last year, this was a fall of 48%
• The number of  professionals entering the jobs market month-on-month in April 12 rose by 10%
• This was a fall of 50% from April 11 to April 12
• The average time taken to place professionals in new jobs was 47 days down from 67 days in March 12
• The average salary for those who secured new roles in April 12 compared to those who were newly placed in March 12 was £51,347 – a rise of 2%.

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Financial services jobs decline by 8% in March 12 but rise overall from Q4 to Q1 12.

Key highlights from the March 2012 monitor include:

• Job vacancies across London’s financial services sector fell by 8% from February 12 to March 12
• Compared to the same month last year, this was a decline of 57%
• Job availability from Q4 11 to Q112 rose by 4%
• The number of professionals entering the job market in March 12 was 18% lower than February 12
• Continuing the pattern of decline in job seeker numbers, this was also 62% lower than March 11
• The time taken to place professionals into new jobs rose by 6 days in March 12 to 67 days
• The average salary for those securing new roles in March 12 was £50,330

Download the March 12 London Employment Monitor

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Of course it’s positive to see our Employment Monitor registering an increase in job availability in January 12 after two months of declining hiring activity in the City.  However, it’s important to note that this is a very typical trend at this time of year with December being a shorter working month.  For the eight years that we have been recording job availability, January has always seen an increase in financial services hiring activity in London.

View full report

The number of jobs will also be boosted to some extent by roles that were signed-off but not released in December due to factors such as budgetary constraints. However, despite the fact that January shows a rebound, we have to put this into perspective; the total number of available roles in January 12 was just over half the number of January 11 which was in itself a relatively subdued month for hiring compared to previous years.  Despite the welcome monthly uplift, this 52% drop on the number of jobs in January 11 indicates we are still in a very cautious hiring market.

The rise in number of job seekers in the market in January 12 compared to December 11 again reflects the time of year. The ‘New Year, new job’ effect prevails to some extent every year regardless of economic conditions.  In addition, we are in the midst of bonus announcements, with expectations that many banks will be restricting the size of bonus pots to reduce costs and focus on other ways to attract talent.  Speculation and anticipation of unsatisfactory bonuses may have encouraged professionals to re-enter the jobs market in January 12.  However, as the distribution of bonus pots is unclear at this stage, it therefore also remains unclear whether bonus season will have the usual jobs merry-go-round effect.

The significantly increased time to fill roles reflects the environment in which organisations are currently operating; interview processes and headcount sign-off are quite clearly delayed for a number of reasons.  Firstly, finding the right person is absolutely paramount – each hire is crucial.  Secondly, negotiating and agreeing compensation and benefits packages is frequently taking longer with changes to the structure of remuneration within institutions and hiring managers facing cost pressures.  Thirdly, lack of visibility and confidence in the market means it can be genuinely difficult to determine the right person and the right time to hire.  The constantly changing landscape, particularly with respect to regulation also adds another layer of complexity.

We are definitely seeing the impact of this uncertainty reflected in the relatively active level of hiring activity for temporary and contract roles in financial services.  It’s encouraging to see these short term roles being released which suggests a need for skilled professionals, however it also points to a real ‘wait and see’ approach to hiring permanent employees.

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3,843 newly available jobs in London's financial services sector

Morgan  McKinley’s latest monthly London Employment Monitor was issued earlier this week.  The Employment Monitor measures the number of jobs coming onto the market and also the number of job seekers entering the market.

In September 11, there was a further decline in the number of available job roles – 6% down on the previous month.  This reflects the uncertainty that is affecting the hiring market – Andrew Evans, Managing Director Morgan McKinley Financial Services commented on the hiring market being now impacted solely by current “economic and financial issues” and that “sentiment across London’s financial services sector remains extremely cautious.”

Two weeks into Q4 and it remains to be seen how the economic concerns of the world will change and what the subsequent impact will be on financial services hiring in London and beyond.

Click here to read the full London Employment Monitor – September 11

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…and it got to mid season with a huge injury crisis, it would still remain top of the league.

If you have not already had a chance to read the latest London Employment Monitor for June 2011, then I recommend you take a couple of minutes to scan over it, as it throws out some very interesting facts.

We recently conducted a survey of 560 financial services professionals, and having posed a series of questions regarding working abroad, 80% of individuals said that they had not yet had the opportunity to move abroad, or if they had, had rejected the option based on a number of personal reasons, namely family, property, ‘too much hassle’ or simply London being the best place to advance their careers.

It’s comforting to see that such a high number is no coincidence. Following the threats over the last couple of years of businesses relocating their headquarters abroad due to tax reasons, the threat of more stringent regulation, or regional offices, in particular Asia, expanding their headcount due to economic growth, it is evident that London is still too high profile to witness a sudden exodus of financiers to other locations.

The London Employment Monitor also registered a 6% month-on-month increase in new financial services job opportunities in June 11. An increase of this nature is promising news to the markets, showing that there is still appetite to hire into financial institutions. From a job seeker perspective, the volume of new professionals entering the financial services jobs market increased by 3% from May 11 to June 11. Although this is considerably less than the increase witnessed during the same period last year, there is still evidence that employees are on the look out for new career opportunities.

The London financial services sector continues to show its agility and robust nature compared to its European neighbours. Despite the ongoing crises of the Eurozone, combined with the recent Japanese and Middle East crises, the FTSE, which is considered a measure of business prosperity, continues to work against all odds and hover around the 6000 market. Add to that, a fall in unemployment in the UK over the last three months, and a general rise in job volumes in the private sector, can only continue to prove that London is the only team everyone wants to play for.

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We published our monthly financial services London Employment Monitor to the leading media in this sector last week. (see link below).  Measuring the pulse of recruitment activity across the city, the signs based on January’s data are that London has come through a challenging 2009 and made a very healthy start to 2010…

Job vacancies in City up 60%, Financial Times – 10 February 2010

 We witnessed a 105% increase month on month in job volumes.  Always wary about the effects of Christmas and year end / budget submissions on these numbers the “real feel” is probably better reflected in the 60% uplift on the same month a year ago.

 What will be interesting over the rest of the first quarter will be to see how the time taken to fill roles is affected by this perceived increased demand.   I would fully expect to see this time to come down below the two month average that we saw last year.

It seems evident that the reasons London became a leading global financial services player endure:  geographically well-positioned, with a community of institutions that have accumulated some of the brightest talent - It is encouraging to see good career prospects returning to the City to attract the best!

Morgan McKinley London Employment Monitor January 10

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