Morgan McKinley’s Q4 London Employment Monitor details City hiring trends from October through December 2019. The fourth quarter of the year saw uncharacteristically brisk movement among candidates, with a 38% month-on-month increase in job seekers from November to December, and a rise of 24% when compared to December 2018. This movement came on the heels of a 12% increase in jobs available in quarter three, and after voters delivered a resounding mandate to bring years of Brexit uncertainty to a close in the New Year.
Despite a 6% month-on-month increase in jobs in November, fewer jobs were released in the fourth quarter, and were down by 29% quarter-on-quarter. The decrease aligns with the traditional end-of-year closing out of budgets and slowing of business as organisations put hiring off until the New Year. Nevertheless, the 42% decrease from Q4 2018 highlights Brexit’s stubborn grip on City jobs.
With the government now moving full speed ahead with Brexit, questions about equivalence, passporting and trade between Britain and the EU remain unanswered. However, with businesses having had a number of years to prepare, lingering in the bloc is considered a bigger economic burden than departure. And with wildfires ravaging Australia, protests engulfing Hong Kong, military tensions bubbling in the Middle East and the US China trade wars showing minimal signs of abatement, resolving Brexit now pales in comparison to other global challenges.
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