Low unemployment figures suggest worst is still to come

While financial services employment in Scotland has been shrinking since the middle of last year, official statistics show that not too many people have lost their jobs so far. Staffing levels in the sector are currently higher than in June 2007.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that financial services employment in Scotland stood at 88,300 in March 2009 (the latest stats available) – down from the highs of 91,500 at the same time last year.

But since March, more institutions have been adding to the ranks of the unemployed. Lloyds TSB is axing 350 operational roles in Scotland, following on from the 625 corporate banking redundancies announced in May, and RBS is slowly making its way towards a total of 4,500 cuts.

And, sadly, things only look like getting worse. Ernst & Young's Scottish Item Club is predicting 10,000 financial services redundancies by the end of 2010, while a new report compiled by Oxford Economics for Scottish Enterprises claims 6,000 jobs will go before the end of the year.