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Women and overseas staff increase in the City, research shows

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Results signal shift away from image of finance sector as ‘old boys’ club’

Recruitment of women and overseas employees in the City has sharply increased over the past year, according to recruitment firm Astbury Marsden.

Female workers in the square mile grew by nearly half, rising from 20 per cent of the workforce in 2013 to 29 per cent in 2014.

The number of employees originally from Asia also rose with 5 per cent of financial sector workers now coming from China, up from 3.8 per cent last year, while 12 per cent of the workforce is Indian, up from 11 per cent last year. In comparison, only 0.7 per cent of the wider UK population are ethnically Chinese and 2.5 per cent that are Indian.

The firm said that this surge in female appointments is evidence that the gender diversity programmes are making an impact. Investment banks, have schemes that target female undergraduate and graduate students, as well as return-to-work or ‘returnship’ initiatives to attract experienced women back to the industry after taking they've taken a career break to bring up a family or for other reasons.  

In addition, researchers said that some job areas are attracting and retaining female workers with greater success than others. For example, fund services witnessed an increase in the proportion of female workers, with women accounting for 64 per cent of the workforce this year, while ratings agencies had the most gender balanced workforces.

Researchers said that the employer trend for hiring people with Indian and Chinese backgrounds is partly due to the increasing importance of companies from these countries and the City’s determination to be a regional hub for those companies.

Adam Jackson, director at the recruitment firm, said: “Financial services businesses see an enormous commercial benefit from recruiting the best and the brightest.

“Clearly the composition of the City’s workforce is changing rapidly as it hires more and more of the output of the best international business schools and universities, and leaves its image as an old boy’s club further and further behind.”


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