According to City financial services recruiter, Joslin Rowe, fears of cooling in the market for permanent financial services jobs were emphatically dismissed last month. Across the UK, 23,930 permanent financial services jobs were created compared to 21,050 in the same period in 2006, an increase of 13.7%. The number of temporary financial services jobs also hit record levels, with 17,300 positions created in April - a 30.8% rise on last year's figure (April 2006: 13,230).

Tara Ricks, managing director of Joslin Rowe Associates, said: "Financial services remains the most dynamic sector in the UK. What is so staggering is that these numbers come in spite of the number of financial services jobs being outsourced to Poland and India and despite a relentless series of interest rate increases from the Bank of England."

Although there is a significant rise in new jobs, the number of applicants is failing to keep up. Indeed, the number of people applying for jobs in financial services has fallen 8.0% in the last year, from 32,400 in April 2006 to only 29,800 in April 2007. With the number of jobs growing and the number of applicants falling, the ratio of applications to jobs has reached an all-time low. Whilst there were 0.95 applicants for every financial services position a year ago, that number has fallen to only 0.72 in April 2007.

Tara Ricks said: "Firms are finding it increasingly hard to hire staff because there's a double squeeze crushing the market. On the one hand there are more positions to fill, ramping up demand for staff - on the other there are fewer candidates to fill the vacancies as banks continue to concentrate on their retention methods - so the supply is on the slide."

As a consequence, the rates charged by temporary workers rose, with average hourly rate rising 10.5%, from £13.36 in April 2006 to £14.76 in April 2007. In London, the change was more marked with rates rising 13.0% from £15.26 in April 2006, to £17.25 today.

Nabila Sadiq, Managing Director, Joslin Rowe Temporaries said: "The rates that contingent and temporary workers can command in the financial services sector are rising fast as a result of the acute skills shortage on the permanent side."

The average time to fill posts in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Dublin also fell, from 33 days in April 2006, to 27 days in April 2007. Tara Ricks comments, "You might expect time to fill to increase given the lack of active job seekers - but it is precisely because of this severe skills shortage that banks are moving faster than ever before to beat their competitors to hire."

About Joslin Rowe

Established in 1982, Joslin Rowe provides the financial services sector with comprehensive recruitment across Ireland. On 7 April 2006, international staffing services company Vedior (headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands) raised its stake in Joslin Rowe's parent company, The Blomfield Group, from 18% to 70%. Joslin Rowe recruits for some of the top financial institutions across junior and senior positions for both long-term contracts, temporary and permanent roles.

Contact
Belinda Martin
Bell Court House
11 Blomfield Street
London
EC2M 7AY
+44 7789 682 754