Autumn 2020 London Employment Monitor: Glimmer of hope as financial service jobs rise in the capital
Morgan McKinley’s Q3 Autumn London Employment Monitor details City hiring trends from July to September 2020.
London Employment Monitor Autumn 2020 highlights:
- 53% quarter-on-quarter increase in jobs available
- 38% quarter-on-quarter increase in job seekers
- 17% increase quarter-on-quarter salary change
- 54% year-on-year decrease in jobs available
- 4% year-on-year increase in job seekers
Hakan Enver, Managing Director, Morgan McKinley UK commented: “It’s been a quarter full of renewed optimism and hope as the UK settled into a new way of life. The massive drop in job vacancies by 60% in Q2 due to the lockdown has been countered by a 53% increase in jobs during Q3.”
“The good news is we’re seeing more companies finding a way of working through the pandemic and gaining an understanding of their recruitment needs. Banks are faring well and continue to hire. While vacancies are nowhere near the levels of a year ago, this is a positive sign that the Financial Services job market in London is headed in the right direction. Businesses have no plans to roll back remote working, with many firms even suggesting on a permanent basis, therefore, offering home-working as part of their compensation packages.”
“With the furlough scheme due to cease at the end of October 2020, the future still remains uncertain for many and professionals are understandably concerned about their prospects. Redundancies have reached their highest levels in more than a decade with ONS figures showing 227,000 in the three months to August, an increase of 114,000 on June. It was inevitable that the end of furlough would cause a jump in unemployment as businesses recoup losses and try to recover from the damage caused.”
“Businesses and job seekers are struggling with the impact of the pandemic and worried about what a second wave will mean, but we also can’t forget about Brexit. With the 31st December date looming, there are concerns for long term recovery and the free flow of capital and equivalence for UK financial services that needs to be clarified. Waiting until the end of the year will leave financial service companies facing a complex patchwork of national rules. Yet, with all these uncertainties, whilst many firms have been preparing for the last two years, they are still unable to deal with Brexit until we know what the lay of the land is.”
Average Salary Change
During Q3 2020, the average change in salary of those moving from one job to another was 17%. Nearly a fifth of UK businesses have asked staff to take a pay cut to shore up the firm's finances and help stave off redundancies (according to a survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) with a third of companies freezing pay or delaying increases. Companies are looking at ways to cut costs in the current climate and one way might be to consider removing London weighting if employees are no longer commuting.
