Booming jobs market defying Brexit fears

Despite oft-repeated concerns over Brexit, the jobs market in many of the UK's major cities has been growing apace over the past year, according to new survey.

Brexit job market July 2018
Independent job site CV-Library has recorded double digit increases in job vacancies in nine British cities in the past 12 months, led by Hull - which became UK City of Culture in 2017 - where jobs growth rose by an unprecedented 38 per cent.In London, the country's biggest jobs market, the increase in vacancies stood at 14.2 per cent in the second quarter of this year compared to Q2 of 2017. "Businesses in London have remained resilient in the past year, despite ongoing economic uncertainty," said the report.Liverpool and Sheffield recorded rises of almost 20 per cent, while Leeds Glasgow and Edinburgh saw increases similar to that in London. Newcastle, Manchester and Birmingham all had rises of more than ten per cent.

Brexit uncertainty remains for many UK businesses

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said: “Another year has passed and there’s still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding Brexit and what this will mean for many businesses across the UK.“This is particularly true right now following the resignation of both the Foreign Secretary and Secretary of State, which will inevitably delay Brexit negotiations. Yet despite this, employers across London appear to be showing resilience, as they’ve continued to drive their recruitment efforts in the last 12 months.”The report was published after Barclays unveiled plans to create up to 2,500 jobs at a new hub in Glasgow, which will house the bank’s technology, functions and operations teams.
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Paul Compton, chief operating officer at Barclays, said: “The Glasgow campus, alongside others in Whippany, New Jersey, and Pune, India, is part of a global strategy to create world-class facilities for our functions, technology and operations teams.Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister, added: “The new campus will strengthen Glasgow’s financial services sector and shows Scotland continues to be a highly attractive location for inward investment."

FCA warns that UK financial sector must plan for "hard" Brexit

However, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK's financial regulator, has warned the country's financial sector as a whole that it must plan for a "hard" Brexit in case no agreement is reached with the EU when the post-Brexit transition period ends in 2020.“With eight months until we exit the European Union in March 2019, it is important we all — regulators and industry — continue to plan for a range of scenarios,” said Nausicaa Delfas, head of international strategy at the FCA.“Across the FCA, together with colleagues from the Bank of England and the government, we have been working to develop a number of safeguards and contingencies, in the event of a hard Brexit, to ensure that ‘day 1’ works smoothly.”Uncertainty over the UK's financial sector's relations with the EU27 after Brexit has led to many banks and insurers with London bases establishing new hubs in a variety of other European cities, such as Frankfurt, Paris and Paris.Relocate’s new Global Mobility Toolkit provides free information, practical advice and support for HR, global mobility managers and global teams operating overseas.Global Mobility Toolkit download factsheets resource centreAccess hundreds of global services and suppliers in our Online DirectoryClick to get to the Relocate Global Online Directory  

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