Outplacement firm complains banks sack fewer staff

Michael Moran, the managing director, said the fall from 10m to little more than 5m mirrored the fall in the value of the whole City outplacement market.

'Last year it was worth 20m. This year it's worth 10m,' he said.

In another sign that the job market is improving, Penna said 84% of people now find a job in 12-13 weeks, up from 71% at the start of last year..

The Penna group, which includes outplacement offices around the UK as well as Penna BBM, a recruitment company and Penna Meridian, said last month its turnover fell from 22.2 million in the six months to the 30th September 2002, to 21.1 million in the same period this year.

Moran said the group had focused too heavily on City outplacement. However revenues in recruitment and 'talent management' were picking up. 'I foresee us having a 12m business in the City, with 4m-5m coming from outplacement, 3m from talent management and 4m from recruitment.'

Talent management, which includes employee coaching, assessment, and questionnaires will be a particular growth area, Moran said. 'In the last two years the City hasn't spent any money at all developing its people. This is set to change.'

Fairplace Consulting, another outplacement company, said its City of London revenues for the year to June 2003 were down only slightly from the year before, at 3.36m instead of 3.41m. However the figure included career coaching and other consultancy services.