LONDON (Reuters) – War, inflation and Britain’s departure from the European Union led to a 17% fall in job vacancies in London’s financial services sector in the third quarter versus the same time a year ago, recruitment firm Morgan McKinley said Monday.
Mark Astbury, associate director at Morgan McKinley, also said hiring was likely to remain subdued because of the Labour government’s budget on Oct. 30, the first since its election in July, and the U.S. presidential election on Nov 5.
“Ongoing post-Brexit adjustments, inflation, and economic uncertainty are forcing firms to cut back on aggressive hiring and prioritise strategic hires,” Astbury said, commenting on the firm’s data.
The data also showed City vacancies rose 7% in the third quarter from the previous quarter. Astbury said this reflected demand for staff in regulatory compliance, digital transformation and environment, social and governance (ESG) projects.
Britain’s exit from the EU cost London’s financial centre about 40,000 jobs, the Lord Mayor of the City of London told Reuters last week, a deeper impact compared wtih previous estimates.
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Barbara Lewis)
