According to the latest Morgan McKinley London Employment Monitor, the effect of the EU Referendum has been reflected across the board in July’s employment data with a 27% decrease of available jobs compared to the same period last year.

 The employment monitor also showed a 13% decrease in the number of professionals seeking jobs, compared to the same time last year.

“Hiring slowed as institutions found themselves in a post-Brexit limbo, but the impact of the referendum was not as aggressive as we expected”, Hakan Enver, Operations Director, Morgan McKinley Financial Services, said.

The year-on-year decline of 27% is consistent with the overall flat employment climate of the first half (H1). Save for upticks in April and June, H1 2016 has been characterised by an ebbing of both jobs and professionals seeking opportunities, according to Morgan McKinley.

Month-to-month, there was a 12% decrease of available jobs and a 14% of professionals seeking jobs.

“Jumping ship in a climate of uncertainty is particularly risky for employees”,  Enver said. “But we’re also seeing the usual seasonal factors playing out as people take their summer holidays causing a lull in the marketplace.  We would expect a bump in the September figures”.

Speaking exclusively to Staffing Industry Analysts on the role of the temporary jobs market post-Brexit, Enver said: "The temporary market has played a huge part in the number of jobs available both pre and post Brexit. Employers are using the opportunity to bring on talent without the long term commitment particularly considering the uncertainty that lies ahead. Temporary staff are more mobile and the contractual nature means that assignments can be extended with relative ease, if needs be."

Meanwhile, the average salary increased in July to 16%, meaning that one could, on average, expect a 16% increase on their base salary from moving company to another. This is a slight improvement of what was witnessed the prior month which fell to its lowest in 2016, at 13%. Organisations are still airing on the side of caution when it comes to cost and therefore, offering salary increases that are reasonable but nothing extraordinary.   

"The monthly salary change is a measurement of the average salary one can receive from leaving one organisation to join another,” Enver told Staffing Industry Analysts. “In July 2015, professionals could have expected, on average, a 22% increase in their base from moving company. In July 2016, this fell to just 16%. With major organisations continuing to be cost conscious and the general nervous sentiment in the market, finance professionals are not currently in a strong position to demand the salary increases that they were before."

Morgan McKinley states that the overall employment backlash can be attributed, in part, to decisive political leadership, and a growing sense that Article 50 will either not be triggered, or that its consequences will be moderate or slow to materialise.

“The prompt formation of a new government was encouraging”, said Enver. “And London Mayor Sadiq Khan has emerged as a vocal champion of the city. People are currently in one of two camps: those with a negative outlook who fear a recession, and those with a positive one, who expect Britain to weather the Brexit storm. We will have more clarity in the months ahead as to which camp is right, but in the meantime it’s business as usual”.