Finance sector salaries inflate due to staff shortage

The professional recruitment agency, Robert Walters, has announced that a long-term shortage of young adults with financial qualifications has resulted in businesses outbidding one another for professional staff. The latest crisis in the credit markets has had no effect on City jobs with banks, legal firms or accountants.

According to Robert Walters, the procedure is most common in London where employers are frequently increasing salaries, in efforts to stop them taking a new job. The lack of skilled staff is particularly marked for back office roles, such as risk management, compliance and audit.

The agency also established that rising wage rates in London are not attracting new staff to solve the problem. Graduates today are clearly not interested in jobs that involve finance, in spite of the huge salaries that come with these jobs.

Last month, Robert Walters took a trip to South Africa with one of its clients and interviewed 100 candidates for positions with a large bank in London - 35 appointments were made.

Furthermore, the sharp rise in pay for London’s professionals has caused the Institute of Public Policy Research to request a rise in the minimum wage for workers in London. The institute said workers in the capital on low pay need a minimum wage of £6.50 to ensure that the gap between lowest and average earners in the capital remains in accordance with the UK average.

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