Brexit Effect Reduces 37 Percent Of Financial Jobs In London

Brexit is being blamed for a 37 percent drop in new financial sector jobs available in London last month.

According to Reuters, Britain’s upcoming exit from the European Union is the main factor for new financial services jobs falling to 3,150 from 4,980 in December 2016.

“Brexit clobbered the city’s workforce in 2017. Anyone sticking it out into 2018 is in it for the long haul,” said Hakan Enver, operations director at Morgan McKinley Financial Services, which released the report.

The report also showed a drop in the number of people looking for employment in the financial sector, with the number of applicants falling 30 percent year-on-year in December to 4,594.

With Brexit looming, there is a chance that around 10,000 finance jobs will leave Britain or be created overseas in the next few years if the country doesn’t gain access to Europe’s single market. And London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, recently said the country could be dealing with a “lost decade” of low growth and investment, potentially losing almost 500,000 jobs if it can’t complete a trade deal with the EU.

This week, British Prime Minister Theresa May met financiers from firms, including Goldman Sachs, to discuss the potential impact of Brexit. At stake is London’s standing as Europe’s premier financial hub, and also Britain’s biggest source of corporate tax revenue.

But many banks and financial firms could be forced to move jobs out of Britain if it loses the EU “passport” mechanism that allows companies to sell their products freely within the bloc from London.