Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

BrexitLatest NewsJob creation and lossesLabour marketRecruitment & retention

Tech jobs enjoy UK boost but banking roles fare better in EU

by Jo Faragher 19 Mar 2019
by Jo Faragher 19 Mar 2019 Banking and financial services jobs are having a better run in Frankfurt and other EU centres than the UK
Michael Probst/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Banking and financial services jobs are having a better run in Frankfurt and other EU centres than the UK
Michael Probst/AP/REX/Shutterstock

There is evidence of a “jobs merry-go-round” in European centres as Brexit approaches, according to recruitment company Robert Walters.

In an analysis of recruitment trends, it found that banking and financial services jobs are performing better in EU hubs such as Frankfurt, Paris and Dublin, but the UK tech sector is outperforming its European counterparts.

Brexit preparation

Podcast: Brexit – preparing your workforce for all scenarios

EU worker numbers continue to fall ahead of Brexit 

Robert Walters also concluded that the UK continues to be the leading country in Europe in terms of candidates with IT skills, while the number of roles advertised in the tech sector increased by 11% from 2016 to 2018.

Furthermore, tech jobs in the UK are seeing more growth outside London. Job creation in Manchester in the tech industry was up 29% between 2016 and 2018, 22% in Leeds and 20% in Birmingham. In London, growth over the same period was 9%.

Ahsan Iqbal, director of IT at Robert Walters, added that he expected this growth in demand in the UK tech sector to continue, with London boasting the best pool of talent, but regions quickly catching up.

“It is not one that is overly dependent on supply chains and is a genuinely global sector, so it appears to be largely unaffected by Brexit,” he said. “Companies that are going to be successful in the future are those that are investing in tech – AI, robotics, e-commerce and fintech.”

Employers can now be far more flexible on location, added Iqbal: “A lot of tech staff do not need to be in the office five days a week, and are operating from home or elsewhere at least some of the time.

“It has never been easier to set up a base using serviced offices, so businesses are able to be agile and move activity to satellite offices in other parts of the country.”

Banking

Meanwhile, in banking, more candidates left London for jobs in other parts of the world than were hired, Robert Walters found. When compared with other European cities, London was losing eight banking and financial services jobs to Europe for every three that were attracted in the other direction. The big winners were Zurich, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid and Dublin.

The company also revealed that headcount in big investment and corporate banks grew most strongly in Frankfurt (up 10%), Milan (up 8%) and Paris (6%). Headcount in Ireland and London grew by 3% and 2% respectively.

Last year, the City of London Corporation predicted that between 5,000 and 13,000 City jobs would move to the EU by the time the UK left the bloc. However, Robert Walters suggests that only 1,8000 have been confirmed as leaving London so far, according to analysis of publicly disclosed relocations.

Meanwhile, hiring by US and UK banks in London increased by 5%, but remained static for European banks and fell by 3% for Asian banks.

James Murray, director of the recruitment company’s financial services division, said that while numbers may be lower than expected, there has been a knock to confidence.

Technology jobs in financial services are seeing high recruitment activity, while some roles are moving in risk management, finance and compliance, he explained.

He said: “We are seeing a decrease in candidate confidence in terms of people actually wanting to move in light of relative uncertainty. We have seen some hiring pauses and we have seen longer timescales in terms of new hires being signed off.”

“When it comes to Brexit, banks we are talking to have a variety of different contingency plans and they will implement whichever one is necessary. The biggest worry for them is a no deal Brexit.”

Jo Faragher
Jo Faragher

Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

previous post
Putting a stop to the misuse of NDAs
next post
Top employers’ support for working parents is “invisible”

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Unions fear for workers’ rights after Truss pledge

25 Jul 2022

Ryanair boss urges ministers to help hire more...

22 Jul 2022

Brexit remains an ‘open wound’ for EU employees...

23 Jun 2022

Construction blighted by skills shortage as sector steps...

16 Jun 2022

Parliament launches UK labour market inquiry

27 May 2022

Steep rise in visas for non-EU migrant workers

19 May 2022

Hiring activity in March 2022 began to stabilise

8 Apr 2022

Waning interest in roles once held by EU...

25 Feb 2022

Rees-Mogg calls for swathing civil service cuts

21 Feb 2022

EU Settlement Scheme application backlog adds to skills...

11 Feb 2022
  • 6 reasons why work-based learning is better than traditional training PROMOTED | A recent Fortune/Deloitte survey found that 71% of CEOs are anticipating that this year’s biggest business disrupter...Read more
  • Strengthening Scotland’s public services through virtual recruiting PROMOTED | This website is Scotland's go-to place for job seekers looking to apply for roles in public services...Read more
  • What’s next for L&D? Enter Alchemist… PROMOTED | It’s time to turn off the tedious and get ready for interactive and immersive learning experiences...Read more
  • Simple mistakes are blighting the onboarding experience PROMOTED | The onboarding of new hires is a company’s best chance...Read more
  • Preventing Burnout: How can HR help key workers get the right help? PROMOTED | Workplace wellbeing may seem a distant memory...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+