The job outlook for the financial services industry has registered only the slightest improvement, according to the latest TMP Worldwide job index figures.
The August to October 2001 quarterly job index reports a net increase of 3.7 per cent in permanent employment expectations for the financial services industry since last quarter figures.
With 33.1 per cent of employers within financial services expecting to add staff in the next three months and 10. 7 per cent indicating a decrease in numbers, the 22.4 per cent net effect for the industry is above the national all industry expectation of 18.6 per cent.
But TMP Worldwide deputy managing director Wayman Chapman says the increase is marginal at best.
“There is no dramatic change in the market, it looks to be more of the same,” he says.
The latest survey which reviewed 6450 employers across the country reports net effects in each of the six regions surveyed, with South Australia and Queensland registering the highest employment expectations of 40.4 per cent and 36.1 per cent respectively. South Australia is also up 25 per cent from last quarter figures, and Chapman says these figures are unusual.
“South Australia is most unusual, but the figures may be impacted by the Adelaide based Westpac Mortgage processing centre,” he says.
New South Wales has the second lowest employment expectation of 18.9 per cent, just 0.1 per cent higher than the ACT and Chapman says these results point to a continuation of what the industry has been seeing in these areas.
Medium size financial sevices businesses indicate the most optimism for employment growth in the next quarter with a recorded 31.9 per cent net effect, up by 0.9 per cent. Small businesses have also recorded a healthy net 30 per cent of expectation while the survey results show large businesses with a low 9 per cent employment expectation rate.
“The major organisations are the ones who feel it the quickest and the first to be in an area of caution when the market is in a downturn,” Chapman says.
He says financial services was one of the hardest sectors hit in the first half of the year (along with IT) and while there was hope for a better second half, reality is that is not the case. With the state of the US ecomony and the impending election, Chapman believes the final quarter forecast will also be “hard pressed to come better”. But there is continued hope for the market.
“Fingers crossed that we’ll be looking better when we come through to the new year,” he says
