Using data provided by VacancySoft, research from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) revealed that hiring within the financial services sector was down 58% in Q2 2020.
However, numbers improved by the end of the year, with recruitment levels up 15.2% year-on-year in December 2020.
Unsurprisingly, due to the ongoing requirement for tech professionals to manage remote working practices since the start of the pandemic, IT specialists were the most in demand across the financial services sector – vacancies rose from 30% in 2019 to 33% in 2020 for this group.
According to the report, accountants were the least impacted of all professionals across financial services, recording just 16.6% fewer vacancies in 2020.
Ann Swain, Global CEO at APSCo, commented, “The initial drop in vacancies seen at the beginning of the pandemic is unsurprising and demonstrates that financial services wasn’t immune to Covid-19’s impact on hiring.
“However, to see recruitment activity actually up year-on-year by December 2020 demonstrates that the sector was well on the way to recovery - despite both the pandemic and Brexit causing uncertainty as employers approached the New Year. And while January saw a marginal reduction in hiring levels, we expect the recovery seen at the end of last year to continue as the unlocking of lockdown gains pace and we return to some level of normality.”
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