Almost half of City employers expect to reduce recruitment over the next 12 months as the impact of the credit crunch continues to undermine the financial services industry.

Job vacancies in the City were 16 per cent lower in July than in the same month last year, according to a survey published on the 21 Aug by Morgan McKinley, the financial recruitment specialists.

More than 150 “leading financial services hiring managers” were asked about their recruitment intentions over the next year. Some 45 per cent expected hiring to decrease, compared with 39 per cent expecting it to stay the same and only 16 per cent expecting it to increase, said Morgan McKinley.

When the same question was asked in January, some 24 per cent of recruitment managers expected hiring to rise, compared with just 22 per cent forecasting a fall, said the recruitment company.

Robert Thesiger, chief executive of Imprint, Morgan McKinley's parent company, said: “A year on from the first reports of the credit crunch, it is fair to say that considerable levels of uncertainty remain within the financial services industry and, in turn, the recruitment market.”

He took heart from the fact that “the majority still expect hiring levels to stay the same or increase, which indicates that there are areas which will continue to grow despite the continued market turbulence”.

随着信贷紧缩的影响继续损及金融服务业，近半数的伦敦金融城雇主预计，未来12个月内将缩减招聘规模。

专为金融业服务的招聘中介机构摩根麦金利(Morgan McKinley) 8月21日发布的调查显示，7月份金融城职位空缺与去年同期相比下降了16%。

摩根麦金利向150多名“领先金融服务企业的招聘经理”询问了未来一年的招聘计划。约45%的人预期招聘人数将减少，39%的人预计将保持不变，只有16%的人预计招聘人数将增加。

摩根麦金利表示，今年1月份它们提出同样的问题时，约有24%的招聘经理预期招聘人数将增加，只有22%的人预期将出现下降。

摩根麦金利母公司Imprint的首席执行官罗伯特•塞西格(Robert Thesiger)表示：“从信贷紧缩最初的报道至今已过去了1年，客观地说，金融服务业内部仍存在很大的不确定性，而这也反映在招聘市场。”

不过，由于“多数人仍认为招聘规模将保持不变或扩大，这表明尽管市场持续动荡，但有些领域仍保持增长”，这令他感到振奋。   （实习编辑：顾萍）