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Redundant City workers were today given the bleakest warning yet about how slim the chances are of winning back their highly paid jobs.
The boss of Britain's biggest recruitment agency told bankers and other City employees who have been shaken out by the credit crunch: “Those jobs have gone and they're not coming back any time soon.”
Alistair Cox, chief executive of Hays, said that the number of vacancies had halved in a year, while there are three times are many applicants for each post. He also said that pay packages in the City are becoming less generous, except for the very highest level jobs.
He said many applicants would now have to take a long look at their prospects and consider retraining for a different career. He added: “It's still a brutal jobs market in most countries in the world. There's no clear sign we're past the worst.”
Tens of thousands of jobs have already been lost since the start of the credit crunch two years ago, although most of the redundancies have come since the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September. The CEBR think-tank has estimated that 53,000 jobs will be lost to London's financial industry by the end of next year.
Investment bankers at Credit Suisse in London were warned about the latest round of cuts in an email yesterday.
They were told that “due to market conditions, projected staffing levels required to meet client needs and strategic deployment goals, it has been necessary for Credit Suisse to evaluate targeted reductions across the investment banking operations department in London.” It is thought that about 40 highly paid posts will go.
Reader views (3)
Perhaps another reason to freeze the salaries of the public workers, MPs and stop their generous pensions.
- Jk, London, 08/07/2009 09:40
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They can't complain too easy for too long. The only people that will exist in London are the very rich or those on benefits. The loonies are winning!
- Mike, London, 07/07/2009 21:26
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I have just been made redundant from a Top 100 law firm in London and judging by my calls to numerous agencies over the last couple of days there is no chance of me getting a job any time soon. So it seems that at the age of 55, singl and with a mortage I am on the scrapheap and with the prospect of losing my house. What a bleak outlook.
- Jan, Romford, 07/07/2009 15:08
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