Analysts have warned that the job market in the financial services sector will be ‘tough’ for the remainder of 2008, after new figures revealed a severe decline in new employment in London’s financial district.
A report by recruitment consultancy Morgan McKinley showed that while the number of new jobs in the City fell marginally by 2.3% in March, it represents a whopping 23% drop from the same period last year.
And it appears that the credit crunch is taking its toll on the activity of candidates looking for new jobs aswell. Individuals looking for new job positions dropped 3% from February, according to McKinley, but surprisingly, candidate movement in March was 4% higher than the same period in 2007.
However, those looking for jobs far outweighed the number of positions currently available in the sector, for the third month in a row.
It now also takes the average candidate 60 days to secure a new position, compared with 48 days in March last year.
Robert Thesiger, chief executive of Morgan McKinley’s parent company, Imprint, said the figures showed that recruitment within financial services in London had entered into a new phase of its cycle.
“Job volumes are lower, candidate supply has exceeded demand for the third consecutive month this year, and the time it takes for individuals to secure a new job has increased by an average of 26%,” he said.
“I think most would agree that the remainder of 2008 will be tough for both the financial services industry and financial services recruitment,” he said.
The average salary remained relatively static, according to McKinley.
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