A report by the recruitment firm Morgan McKinley out yesterday said that the number of City workers looking for a job rose 42% in the month to September, as firms make cutbacks. But it found new job vacancies fell 14% last month.
The Centre for Economic and Business Research predicted earlier this week that City jobs will decline by 28,000 in 2008 and a further 34,000 in 2009. The worst-hit sector will be corporate finance, which is likely to lose half its 15,000 employees over the next two years. Employment in derivatives is also set to fall by 46%
The report also predicted that legal and professional services, insurance, fund management, securities and equities sectors will all cut the head count by between 10% and 20%.
"The chances for a strong bounce-back in the City from 2010 onwards also appear to be slim," the report added.
Richard Snook, a senior economist at the research body, said: "The City will be hard-hit by the crisis; we expect it will be set back by a decade, with 62,000 jobs lost over the next two years."
