London is firmly established as one of the world’s hubs for finance, culture, and commerce. It stands shoulder to shoulder with contemporaries such as New York, Tokyo, and Sydney.
Being such a diverse city with staggering growth in many sectors, it’s little wonder that more and more people are heading there to begin or further their careers.
The capital has always held appeal as a place of residence for many reasons, despite cost of living increases and the recent recession still leaving a sour taste. However, there are signs that things are improving.
Job Prospects
Currently, the London job market has 10 times more jobs than that of any other city in the UK. The capital is responsible for 80 percent of private sector employment growth from 2010 to 2012.
Encouragingly, there’s also almost a 10 percent rise in graduate vacancies, which is bringing employment levels back to 2007 numbers — the year before the recession kicked in.
London is taking the lead in preparing workers for the job market through schemes like Teach First, which has driven public sector employment immensely.
Approximately 20,000 graduates are currently being sought after by a variety of large businesses and corporations such as Google, John Lewis, and British Airways.
Another motivating factor is money. Salaries in the capital are the highest, with the average weekly wage being approximately $1,060.00 (£634.00), which is almost $50.00 more than the next highest city of Reading.
Factor in the initiative that the government itself is promoting to enhance the jobs market. ‘City Deals’ is a policy of which cities like London are taking full advantage. It grants certain powers and freedoms in the way individual cities conduct their economic growth, allowing them to:
- Take full responsibility for decisions that affect their areas
- Conduct planning that is in the best interest of the city in order to help businesses expand
- Decide how public money is allocated
This autonomy means that London has been able to take the bull by the horns and revitalize the jobs market across industries. Marketing and commercial sectors are proving lucrative. The digital economy, which stands at well over $50 billion annually is attractive thanks to over 3,000 companies and 48,000 jobs.
Financial services are really seeing the benefits here. Economist Dmitri Gruzinov recently co-authored a report on London’s financial industry, stating that it will have dips but will ultimately increase over the next few years.
He goes on to say that: “Looking ahead, we forecast financial services to bounce back in 2014 and together with business services, drive the London economy, resulting in total gross value added growth between 3 percent and 4 percent for the following five years.”
Of course, to keep the economy rising, it requires workers who are productive, passionate, and competent. This means the best are travelling to London, where their careers have a greater opportunity to take off faster. There is a lot going on right now that makes London attractive to a wide cross section of employees and employers.
It shows no signs of slowing down.
Some of the Related Conference Sessions at the ERE Recruiting Conference in San Diego:
- Executing a Global Talent Acquisition Strategy
(Wednesday, April 23, 2014, 3 p.m.)