Bladewatch.com

http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=18332

As many as 20,000 City jobs will be culled over the next two years as a result of the global credit crunch, according to a report from the centre for economics and business research (CEBR) which warns that the scale of the job losses will be worse than during the dotcom crash.

The number of financial sector jobs in London will fall by 11,000 in 2008, says CEBR, with a further 8200 roles expected to be shed in 2009.

The number of jobs reliant on the City will fall from 351,000 in 2007 to 334,000 in 2009, with levels not recovering until 2012.

“We expect the credit crunch to have a greater impact on the City than the dotcom crash when 15,300 jobs were lost. Unlike in 2000 and 2001 other areas of the economy such as the housing market and consumer spending will not be as supportive of growth during this crisis,” says the CEBR.

It will be interesting to see if this applies to those ‘business’ or backoffice/IT roles? We have to be careful about such reports. Granted from an economic perspective life is not going too well, there have been a few banks reporting losses/exposure to poor market conditions. At the same time though, you often find that these kind of conditions can present opportunities – I can’t sell you a new server, can I provide extra support for your existing server? Outsourcing elements of the IT infrastructure, the data center, the desktop support function etc.

Linked to the concept of jobs in the city, the banks might be reducing the number of roles they have – but how many fixed term contractors are they recruiting – or service provision type roles? I need a unix guy for this project, can I have one for five months, let’s not forget that typically a contractor, a request for services isn’t on my headcount typically, is effectively below the radar – a fixed service cost like anything else?

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