Finance welcomes 400 new workers - and say there's more to come

Monday 20 April 2015

The news that 400 new jobs have been created in finance is welcome evidence that things are picking up in the Island, according to marketing body Jersey Finance.

Chief executive Geoff Cook says that the signs - in yesterday's Labour Market Report and last week's Business Tendency Survey - are now consistently pointing to an economic recovery.

Figures for the end of December show that the number of people working in the finance industry had risen to 12,770, by far the highest number of any sector.

Mr Cook said: “This is further welcome evidence of a more consistent upturn for the finance industry and an indicator of new business being generated which is good news for the economy. While numbers working directly in banking have declined, a trend that has been reflected in western markets generally since the financial crisis, this has been more than balanced locally by the recruitment of additional people in the trust, private wealth and legal sectors.

“Alongside the announcement this week, that leaders in the finance industry were reporting a consistent level of optimism about future growth in the Business Tendency Survey for the first quarter of 2015, the employment news adds a further positive element for the outlook for the finance sector.”

According to the Jersey Labour Market stats produced by the States' Statistics Unit, employment at the end of last year was up across all sectors by 1,980 with more jobs in both construction and retail. But half of all of the new jobs created were under “zero hours” contracts that do not guarantee any work or pay.