Bonus season stunts City jobs market growth
City hiring slowed in November as firms and employees ready themselves for the bonus season.
However, hiring activity was still 29 per cent higher than at the same time last year, according to figures released today by recruiters Astbury Marsden. The number of jobs created in November was 3,212, down five per cent on October’s number.
The cool-down comes after a busy late summer and autumn.
“City staff are waiting to see the size of their bonus cheque before they move so there is less replacement hiring going on,” said Adam Jackson, director at Astbury Marsden.
Hiring patterns have also changed. Jobs growth in commodities, currencies and fixed income (typically bonds) trading desks has slowed despite trading volumes in these areas rising.
Astbury Marsden attributes this to the pressure of regulatory capital requirements.
The recruitment firm reports an increase in opportunities in areas relating to banks’ restructuring programmes driven by regulatory changes and efficiency drives.
Such specialised areas include digitisation, real time reporting for risk management, regulatory experts and improved cyber security.
“Ongoing restructuring is still very much the biggest driver behind hiring the City at the moment, but we also expect job creation to respond to trends within the market,” Jackson said. One of those trends is the surge in merger and acquisition (M&A) deals which should boost hiring in M&A support.
“M&A activity is buoyant, and some very big deals are being talked about. If that continues that will feed into hiring for investment bankers at all levels, staff to conduct due diligence and provide systems support,” Jackson said.
The surge in M&A activity has been driven in part by consolidation in the oil and gas industry as oil prices drop to $80 a barrel and below. M&A activity is also expected to rise in the insurance and telecoms industries.