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29th Jan 2010
Careers Centre > News

Statistics, statistics and some good news from Badenoch and Clark.

This week the much anticipated news from the Office for National Statistics that the United Kingdom has finally moved out of recession was tempered by the statistics which revealed that the British economy had only grown by an estimated 0.1% in the final quarter of 2010. Most commentators are advising caution with regard to the recovery and continue to pour over other reports and statistics in the search for significant glimmers of hope. Indeed, last week's news (again from the ONS) that unemployment fell in November for the first time in 18 months did not disguise the underlying problems in the labour market.

Headline statistics showed that unemployment fell by 7,000 to 2.458 million in the penultimate month of last year. However, over 8 million people in the labour force are neither searching for employment nor working - this rise included an additional 81,000 students who are now not looking for work. At the same time, the number of people with full time jobs fell to 21.2 million (a drop of 113,000), whilst the number of people with part time jobs rose by 99,000 to 7 million. The amount of young people out of work fell by 16,000 to 927,000, but the startling fact is that one in five young people remain unemployed.

Job prospects in banking, finance and accountancy may be slightly improving. Multi sector recruiter Badenoch and Clark's latest professional talent spotlight has reported an encouraging start to this year as recruitment activity has picked up as, for example "...many finance teams are struggling to cope with pared down resources and are seeking contract support from seasoned year end professionals to see them through one of their busiest times of year." Managing Director Neil Wilson also stated that contract rates are looking more attractive to candidates: "Day rates for professionals, especially in the financial services sector, remained steady in the latter part of 2009 while permanent salaries have been hard hit. The net effect is that some professionals are opting to take contractor roles and enjoying significantly better pay rates than they might earn by going permanent."

Lynne Hardman, Badenoch and Clark's Executive Director, Accounting and Finance, revealed that vacancies in accounting and finance are increasing as the public sector seeks to increase Value for Money and the continued influence of International Accounting Standards points to a need for technical experts. Hardman commented that "we've seen a marked increase in accounting and finance roles across a number of sectors including banking & financial services, retail and FMCG as organisations are no longer able to meet the demands of the business or plan for the future on their current limited resources." Furthermore, "a small but not insignificant increase in the need for auditors to manage Year End has led to a number of the larger practice firms recruiting auditors. A trend we see set to continue in 2010." Business Analysts and Commercial Analysts may be in demand once again as companies continue to keep an iron grip on expenses and similarly, accountants and finance professionals "who can achieve Value for Money are in high demand across the NHS, central and local government."

In the Banking and Financial Services sector, Associate Director Guy Emmerson revealed that employers who are offering post credit crunch salaries are failing to tempt recession survivors from their current roles. Those lucky enough to have managed to survive the redundancies and closures are unlikely to switch roles while they still enjoy pre recession salaries. Banking operations teams will need additional resources as improved investor confidence leads to an increase in equity trading volumes. Jobs in compliance are also likely to increase as greater emphasis on control and compliance is placed on investment banks. Candidates are advised to brush up on their systems and product skills as "hiring managers search for candidates that can hit the ground running." Operational and change management experts may be in demand as "...banks focus on closing the gap between the change and operation functions. Candidates will be instrumental in supporting business change initiatives and managing the day to day business activities." Finally, Emmerson noted that permanent positions are becoming harder to fill as candidates are attracted to day rates which are remaining steady and offering 50% higher earnings.



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