More staff, bigger pay within Irish financial services

Recession, what recession? Figures from the Central Statistics Office would suggest that Ireland's financial services industry has nothing to worry about. There's a greater volume of people earning more money than in 2007.

Admittedly, the CSO figures are as at the end of 2008, and the majority of job cut announcements within Irish financial services firms have come this year. However, it says that there were 84,400 people working in the financial services sector at the end of 2008, compared to 81,700 at the same point in 2007.

Average weekly earnings were also up, to €1,017 - a 4.6% rise on the same period in 2007. They rose 2.6% in the final quarter of 2008 alone, when the financial crisis really began to take hold.

Since the start of the year, of course, things don't look nearly as rosy. All the major banks have frozen hiring, with many eradicating bonuses entirely to cut back on staff costs even if they are currently holding fire with large-scale redundancies.

Of course, it's only government intervention that has allowed this, with Anglo Irish Bank admitting yesterday that the board had considered winding down the bank entirely before state funds became available.

The Big Four Accountancy firms have been reducing pay by up to 10%, while recent salary surveys by recruiters suggest salaries in other areas are beginning to shrink.

Other firms have simply been cutting. ACC Bank recently announced 200 redundancies as it closed branches in Ireland, KPMG has cut 200 posts, Deloitte is seeking 70 voluntary redundancies and State Street is rumoured to have been chopping staff since the end of the year. Ireland's stockbrokers have also been reducing staff numbers.