Employers paying up for experience

Junior Scots finance employees have seen a mighty pay rise since the turn of the millennium. And they are well placed to ask for more.

Alan Thornburrow chief executive of Scottish Investment Operations, tells us that starting salaries for investment operations staff have risen by around 40% in the last five years.

Juniors are still far from rich, but they are marginally richer than they used to be. Thornburrow says typical starting salaries for back office roles are now 15,000 to 18,000.

Rising salaries match the finance sector's growing contribution to the Scottish economy. International Financial Services London (IFSL) says finance companies now account for 8% of Scotland's gross domestic product (GDP), 25% more than five years ago.

Time to ask for a rise

Thornburrow says demand is strongest for juniors with some experience: "It is entry level up to two years qualified where we are seeing demand."

Margaret Dyer at the Edinburgh office of Scottish recruitment firm Joslin Rowe, confirms that junior jobs abound. She tells us: "The bulk of investment operations recruitment in Scotland has been at the junior to intermediate level - however, in recent months we have seen a rise in the number of degree qualified entry level jobs available in the market"

IFSL's figures suggest juniors could negotiate further pay rises in future. Its research indicates that each of the 113,000 people employed in the Scots finance sector contributed an average of 54,265 to the Scottish economy in 2006.