Jump in City hiring as firms bounce back
CITY hiring bounced back towards the end of 2013 in new signs that the finance sector’s crisis era is over, industry data show today.
Recruiter Astbury Marsden found 1,336 new jobs in December, up 67 per cent on the same month of 2012.
At the start of 2013 job creation was falling, but the increase in the final few months means the sector now looks like it is recovering – rises in November and December break a 22-month spell of falling recruitment.
Last year saw 27,915 new jobs, down 21 per cent on the year. However that fall slowed down from 2012, when recruitment fell by 35 per cent.
As a result Astbury Marsden believes the market has bottomed out and is now on the way up.
“The last couple of years have seen the banks undergoing fundamental restructuring, and in most business areas they were more likely to downsize teams than to make plans to expand,” said recruiter Mark Cameron.
“In 2013 that shrinkage has slowed down. What we are seeing is very far from a return to aggressive hiring, but it is a good sign that banks are thinking again about growth.”