UK job market: thin or thriving?

The latest report by Morgan McKinley, the middle and back office recruitment firm, portrays a thriving City of London job market with salaries, candidate numbers and job openings all on the rise.

In the past six months, Morgan McKinley says average middle and back office salaries rose 10% to 50,673. Senior staff saw a more substantial increase, with salaries rising 13% over the same period, to 74,768.

The number of people registering for City jobs also rose in the six months to June, says Morgan McKinley. It estimates 8,800 people registered for financial services work in June, compared to 7,090 in January. At the same time, it says the number of new jobs on offer rose from 5,733 to 6,174.

"The number of new jobs coming onto the market increased significantly over the first half of 2005 in line with steady recovery in market activity," says Robert Thesiger, chief executive of Morgan McKinley. "The market over the first half of the year has become increasingly candidate driven due to a shortage of good quality candidates," he adds.

Thesiger attributes rising pay to improved market conditions and a shortage of good quality candidates.

Andrew Chancellor, head of financial services recruitment at rival firm Robert Walters, questions Morgan McKinley's findings. "The study is based on a small subsector of the banking community and covers too wide a range of roles to be meaningful," he says.

Chancellor confirms the shortage of good quality candidates, however, but he attributes that to long-term demographic trends. "It's partly the fact that accountants and banks didn't recruit enough trainees a few years ago," he says, "but it's also the fact that 25 years ago there weren't enough people being born."

Wanted: CIMA qualified professionals

In a separate study, Joslin Rowe, another back and middle office recruiter in the City of London, says investment banks' snobbishness regarding the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) qualification has lessened.

In 2000, Joslin Rowe says data from its interview records indicated ACA qualified accountants were four times more likely than CIMA qualified accountants to gain interviews in the financial services sector.

This year, it predicts CIMA qualified accountants who open their results at the end of July will find it much easier to enter the City. Michael Buckley, a consultant in the newly qualifieds division of Joslin Rowe, says interest in them has risen due to a shortage of newly qualified ACA accountants. "Firms have realized they can utilize CIMA's enormous industry knowledge and strong business acumen," he says.

The salary gap between ACA qualified accountants and CIMA qualified accountants has narrowed in the process. In 2000, Joslin Rowe says a newly qualified CIMA entering a financial services role would take home 35,000 compared to 40,000 for an ACA. This year, it says the difference has narrowed to between 1,000 and 2,000.

Richard Wright, chief executive of recruiter Martin Ward Anderson, confirms banks' increased interest in CIMA candidates: "The CIMA qualification has developed its syllabus in a more commercial way and the alternative ACA qualification offers too limited a supply of candidates to be reliable," he says.