London Brexodus picks up speed as City workers vote with their feet - for Dublin

• Britain’s financial services professionals vote with their feet after a string of high-profile City employers announce plans to move operations to Dublin
• The number of UK financial professionals looking for a job in Ireland is now 39% above its pre-Brexit referendum level
• London’s loss could be Dublin’s gain as the number of continental Europeans looking for finance jobs in Ireland is now up a third on pre-referendum levels

The number of UK-based financial professionals planning a move to Ireland has risen beyond its post-referendum peak. That’s the finding of data released today by the world’s biggest job site Indeed.

Analysis of searches made by the 20 million monthly visitors to Indeed’s UK site revealed that in the three months following last year’s Brexit vote, the number of UK financial professionals looking for work in Ireland rose to 37% above its pre-referendum level.

Yet  a year on - in the three months to the start of September 2017 - the number climbed to 39% above the pre-referendum figure.

This latest sign that some of the UK’s most skilled financial workers intend to vote with their feet comes after several of the City of London’s biggest names revealed plans to move chunks of their operations to Ireland. In September the Lloyd’s of London insurer XL Group joined Barclays, Bank of America and JP Morgan in announcing it would relocate part of its team to Dublin.

Meanwhile the prospect of Brexit could be deterring European bankers from coming to London. The City has long been a magnet for financial professionals from mainland Europe, and In July 2015 they accounted for 7% of people looking for banking jobs in London, but by this July the figure had fallen to 4.3%. Indeed’s data also suggests London’s loss could be Dublin’s gain, and the number of continental Europeans looking for financial sector jobs in Ireland is now up a third (32%) on its pre-Brexit level.

Indeed’s EMEA economist Mariano Mamertino commented:

“Our data suggests financial sector professionals both in Britain and elsewhere are concerned by Brexit uncertainty and increasingly considering Ireland as an alternative place to further their careers. Ireland is seen as an attractive alternative to the UK by jobseekers, because it is an English-speaking country with a flexible labour market and one of the strongest growing economies in Europe.

“Indeed’s job search data shows that jobseekers are already responding to the political uncertainty surrounding Brexit negotiations.This increasing interest can also be seen as a vote of confidence in the Irish labour market and its financial sector.

Table 1. Percentage increase in searches for financial roles in Ireland

Looking at specific finance roles, the trend of increased interest from both the UK and Europe for roles in Ireland is also maintained. UK-based jobseekers accounted for more than 6% of searches for accountancy roles in Ireland in the past three months, compared to 3.7% pre-Brexit referendum, and for finance analyst roles, the increase was from 6.0% pre-referendum to 8.6% now.

Table 2. Percentage share of searches for specific financial roles in Ireland coming from UK and Europe

Indeed’s EMEA economist Mariano Mamertino continued:

“Not only are growing numbers of British people searching for Irish jobs, so too are jobseekers from elsewhere in the EU. In the last three months, interest from European jobseekers for roles such as finance analyst or accountant has increased at a faster pace than that of UK-based ones.

“Indeed’s data highlights Ireland’s opportunity to attract international talent. However it’s essential that Ireland address bottlenecks in housing, commercial space and infrastructure if it is to keep its comparative advantage as an attractive destination for skilled professionals.”