Canary Wharf
Almost half of firms expect employment to rise even more strongly in the next quarter Reuters

The city is set to grow as almost half of UK financial firms expect employment in the sector to be strongly boosted in the next quarter.

According to research from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), nearly four in ten (+38%) of financial services firms said they increased their head count in the first quarter of 2014.

The study also revealed that almost half (+46%) of firms expect employment to rise even more strongly in the next quarter.

But after three consecutive quarters of solid employment growth, firms are becoming more concerned that a shortage of professional staff may limit their business over the next year.

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Taking into account long-run trends, the latest survey results suggest that employment in financial and insurance activities should rise to 1,160,000 by the end of Q2 2014, which would leave it 26,000 higher than one year earlier.

On this basis, employment would be 56,000 lower in Q2 2014 than its peak in Q4 2008, but 58,000 above the trough in Q1 2010 – implying that just more than half of the ground lost during crisis will have been recovered.

The findings come after separate research from recruiter Randstad found that City workers have one the highest senses of job security when compared to employees in separate sectors across the UK.

The survey, which questioned more than 2,000 workers, revealed only 17% of financial services professionals said they felt worried about losing their jobs.

But more than two in ten (23%) of respondents in different sectors to the city said they were worried about getting sacked.