Salaries up dramatically in December, but surplus job seekers rose 80% year-on-year

Something happened to salaries last month. According to Morgan McKinley, the amount banks were willing to pay 'senior professionals and directors' to entice them onboard rose 12.5%, to 99k.

In December 2009 comparable 'senior professionals' weren't even commanding 80k.

What's going on?

Understandably, Financial News thinks it might have something to do with the EU's bonus rules and banks' efforts to rebase compensation away from bonuses and towards salaries.

Bearing in mind that Morgan McKinley mostly covers middle and back office roles, it may also reflect demand for certain species of accounting staff. Robert Half, for example says regulatory accountants can now command 70-90k.

Less excitingly, however, it's still not easy to find a job in London. Last month, Morgan McKinley estimates there were 3,813 more new jobseekers than new jobs. This was down from 4,665 in November, but up massively on the 2,122 surplus of December 2009.