Last year saw a 22% fall in the number of temporary jobs in compliance, according to the latest salary guide from global professional services recruiter, Morgan McKinley. Overall, the contractor hiring market endured a tough year in 2017, the recruiter adds, with slow progress overall in temporary employment as contractors turned to permanent hires in the accountancy and finance sectors.
This was due, it says, to unpredictability in the location of vacancies and an uncertain market due to Brexit and a slowing economy. However, whilst demand and salaries for many contractors remained stagnant, competition for regulatory individuals was fierce, pushing up salary rates as a result. Risk management contractors reduced their hiring in London dramatically in 2017 as organisations moved operations to Ireland, Switzerland, Poland and India, Morgan McKinley finds.
Victoria Walmsley, Operations Director at the recruiter, said:
‘Overall 2017 has seen a change in hiring trends across the temporary and contract market. The changes to the intermediaries legislation, otherwise known as IR35 or off-payroll rules, were a game-changer for contractors within the public sector. There has certainly been an appetite within financial services to recruit more permanent heads and we have seen a noticeable increase in the number of contractors converted to permanent, our highest number in three years.’