The good and the bad news on employment in the City

22 April 2010

2 minute read

The good and the bad news on employment in the City

The good news is that banks are clearly hiring again globally. First quarter results reveal that Credit Suisse added 600 investment bankers over the past three months, JPMorgan added 323 and Goldman Sachs added 600.

Ever-attuned to any upticks in hiring, London-based think tank the CEBR has revised its predictions for employment in the City of London.

As the table below shows, the CEBR is now predicting that 14,000 jobs will be added this year (instead of the 9,000 it was predicting previously), that 7,000 jobs will be added next year (instead of the 6,000 it was predicting previously), but that only 3,000 will be added in 2012 (instead of the 5,000 it was predicting previously).

CEBR forecast

Source: CEBR

A mere 14,000 jobs may sound a little disappointing if you've been following the predictions of recruitment firms like Astbury Marsden, which is predicting an additional 53,000 financial services jobs in London 2010. However, it's worth bearing in mind that those figures include turnover, whereas the CEBR's reference only the creation of new roles.

The CEBR isn't that optimistic though. Despite this year's predicted jobs rush, it doesn't expect City employment to return to 2007 levels until 2021. If the IMF's FAT tax is implemented, even this may prove wishful thinking.

AUTHORSarah Butcher

Global Editor

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pepapig
22 April 2010
Agree with Ben. As internal recruiter I can confirm that recruitment is limited to a few very select desks within IB. Everything else is at standstill and budgets are constantly being taken away. We see hords of good candidates looking to re-enter the industry accross functions and not finding anything.
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Be
Ben
22 April 2010
This does not represent hiring in the wholesale banking, lending, credit and operations areas. The hiring references continue to raise prospects in investment banking; whereas, many people are looking for work in the traditional banking sector. It is this sector that is experiencing the most difficult path ahead, and having traditional relationship managers, credit mangers and operations staff translates to loans and good service for customers. The assertion that employment has or will improve based on Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan disregards the hiring plans of Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, etc.
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