7th March 2022 – New research from online talent sourcing specialist, Talent.com, has revealed that the financial services labour market has experienced an increased shortage of candidates and will continue on this trajectory throughout the year as a result of both Covid-19 and Brexit.

The 2022: Adapting to the New Normal report – conducted in association with labour economist Morgan Raux – combines official statistics from the Office for National Statistics with data from Talent.com to give an overview of how the job market has been affected by Covid-19 and Brexit, how labour market tightness has increased in the last two years, and how it’s projected to keep evolving in 2022. The analysis of the UK’s labour market ‘tightness’ – which is calculated by the comparison of the jobs posted and the number of professionals available for work – highlights how the financial services recruitment market has suffered from the effects of Covid-19 and Brexit.

The research revealed that, in March of last year, financial occupations experienced a 40% increase in tightness. With a large number of foreign workers in financial service jobs, and the effects of Brexit still yet to fully unfold, analysts are expecting that the tightness in hiring these high-skilled occupations is likely to continue throughout 2022. This prediction is perhaps unsurprising due to the widely reported skills shortage impacting the UK’s professional sector.

Noura Dadzie – VP Sales UK & International Markets at Talent.com comments: “While financial services has experienced a tight labour market in the past, our latest data highlights just how much pressure the industry’s employment landscape has been put under since the pandemic. With rising vacancy levels, decreasing unemployment figures and the growing skills gap, talent pools have been squeezed significantly. What we’re seeing now is more pressure on hiring and recruitment teams which is only going to exacerbate the need to direct recruitment expenditure into the right channels that will ensure companies vacancies are seen by the right people.”

“Recruitment in the financial services sector certainly remains buoyant, showing no signs of slowing down and we predict that as we approach the second half of 2022, we are very likely to see a rise year over year in both job adverts and hires. Those that take a proactive hiring approach will stay ahead of the competition during these unprecedented circumstances.”