London Financial Job Openings Increased in June, Survey Says

July 15 (Bloomberg) -- Job openings in London’s financial- services industry rose in June to the highest level this year, according to a survey by recruitment firm Morgan McKinley.

The number of job vacancies climbed 20 percent last month from May, when openings were also up 14 percent versus April, the London-based company said in a statement today. In all, job openings have increased 30 percent this year, the survey shows.

“There does seem to have been an improvement in the appetite amongst employers to recruit,” said Andrew Evans, managing director of Morgan McKinley’s financial-services unit. “There have been muted increases in hiring in most areas and across most levels within the financial-services industry. This was particularly apparent in June.”

Signs are mounting that the U.K. economy is recovering from the worst recession since 1979. Bank of England Deputy Governor Charles Bean said on BBC Radio Leeds this week that the economy has probably hit bottom and will recover over time. The U.K.’s benchmark FTSE 100 index has gained about 20 percent since its low in March.

Total job openings are still down 58 percent compared with a year ago, the survey shows. There were 3,780 new job openings within the financial services industry in June, an increase from the 3,150 available in the previous month. That’s still less than half the 8,946 jobs open in June 2008.

The average city salary was almost unchanged at 50,115 pounds ($81,787), only 1 percent lower than in the same period in 2008, Morgan McKinley said.

As the financial markets thaw, redundancy announcements slow and confidence levels improve, workers in the financial industry have started to seek out better positions, Evans said.

“The financial services jobs market is still highly competitive,” he said. “It is likely to get even more competitive over the summer months.”