Jobseekers in financial services face two-month wait for work

Jobseekers in the financial services sector are taking almost two months to find new employment as opportunities continue to wane, research has found.

The number of vacancies came in below last year's figures for the sixth month in a row, but experts believe the labour market has still improved.

Research by recruitment company Morgan McKinley shows the number of vacant finance positions in June remained 7% below the 2007 figures, but notes an increase in vacancies of 9% from May.

The number of job candidates also increased by 6% in the same period, and by almost three times as much in the past year.

Employers were found to be more cautious in their hiring, with results showing candidates taking 58.8 days on average to secure a new role – up 16 days from June last year.

Robert Thesiger, chief executive officer of Morgan McKinley's parent company Imprint, said: "The slower pace of recruitment adopted by a number of firms over the past six months, combined with higher levels of staff turnover, have led to a slight increase in the amount of replacement hiring organisations undertook last month.

"However, due to the continued uncertainty in the global financial services markets, it is unlikely that this marginal increase in job activity will be sustained over the summer months."

Successful jobseekers in the second quarter of 2008 found an increase in their average salary of 19% to £50,645, up 5% on last month.