Banking woes hit London IT jobs

gallery

The credit crunch has hit IT job creation in London and the South East, according to numbers released by ReThink Recruitment.

The IT staffing firm said the share of new tech jobs being created in the capital and the rest of the South East has dropped to 57.6 per cent, compared to 65.5 per cent two years ago.

Jon Butterfield, managing director at ReThink Recruitment, said this was likely explained by cuts in the financial sector. “During the financial services boom demand for IT staff in front and middle office roles, which tend to be concentrated in London and the South East, skyrocketed. A lot of those institutions have now put in place hiring freezes.”

Meanwhile, all other regions saw increases in IT job creation share. The North West’s share jumped from 6.6 per cent in 2006 to 9.2 per cent this year, while the West Midlands climbed from five per cent to 6.7 per cent. The South West increased from 5.3 per cent to 7.2 per cent.

“The regions are clearly being less adversely affected by the immediate fallout from the banking crisis,” Butterfield said. “At the moment we’re continuing to see fairly stable demand for IT skills in our regional offices and across the wider economy.”

While investment banks are forced to make cuts, other areas – even in the financial sector – are adding staff, Butterfield explained. “Despite many investment banks cutting jobs in some areas, in others, such as compliance and risk management, they are boosting IT staff numbers as they develop systems to mitigate risks in volatile markets. Consolidation in the financial services sector will also create a need for IT specialists to integrate disparate systems.”

He added: “Central government departments in London have become major users of IT skills since the last downturn, which should provide some ballast to the jobs market. Any cutbacks by the public sector are unlikely to be as deep or as aggressive as in the private sector.”

Email to a friend

Print this page