London is lagging three months behind Hong Kong and Singapore in its job market recovery, according to the latest research by Ambition.
The research shows that during the downturn, the jobs market in Hong Kong bottomed out in quarter four 2008, three months before London. Since then, powered by growth in the Chinese economy, the Hong Kong market has enjoyed an 89% rise in the number of jobs available in the Banking and Financial Services sector.
Guy Day, Ambition’s Regional Managing Director (Asia & UK), said, “The second half of 2009 and start of 2010 has seen rapid growth in London. Banks have repaired their balance sheets through Government aid or rights issues, commodity prices are rising, and recovery stocks being sold heavily. As a result the FTSE has been going from strength to strength and many banks, brokers and trading houses have been piling into equities – making money while the going is good. This has lead to a significant increase in demand for staff to support these areas of growth.”
Quarter three 2009 was the peak time for unemployed London’s banking & financial services staff to register for work. But there has been a decline since then suggesting that London could be returning to a candidate short market, a situation not seen since before the economic downturn. The number of candidates registering for work in banking & financial services in London has fallen by 21% over the last two quarters.
According to the research, banking and financial services job vacancies in the City of London are expected to reach pre-credit crunch levels by August 2010, driven by growth in the equities market over the past twelve months.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
