May’s GDPR deadline caused a hiring boom across London’s technology, compliance and legal sectors

Hiring in technology, compliance and legal departments across the City is booming as a result of May’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) deadline, despite the rate of jobs available slowing down.

Research released today by Morgan McKinley shows that although financial services jobs decreased by six per cent month-on-month, GDPR kicked off a hiring spree in the sector that is expected to impact the months ahead.

The regulation in EU law, which is expected to unify data protection laws across Europe and provide individuals with greater rights over their data, came into effect on 25 May, as firms jostled to become compliant by the deadline.

“The new rules has meant huge changes for companies in the way that data is kept and it will require many companies to "bite the bullet" on hiring data experts,” said Hakan Enver, managing director at Morgan McKinley Financial Services.

“We've always had compliance teams and IT teams but we’re missing those in the middle that manage data.”

Firms that fail to become compliant could face the larger of either fines of up to €20m (£17.5m), or 4 per cent of global turnover.

The flat hiring market continued in May, as job availability decreased 31 per cent year-on-year.

The number of professionals seeking a new job decreased by 21 per cent month-on-month in the same period, or by 48 per cent year-on-year.

However the average salary increase for those who moved from one firm to another now sits at 27 per cent, as institutions turn towards poaching talent from existing top positions, rather than waiting for them to become available.