The number of City of London jobs fell by 3.5 per cent month-on-month in August, according to London Employment Monitor research conducted by recruiter Morgan McKinley.

The number of vacancies fell from 7,056 in July to 6,804 in August, a slight drop on last month's figures.

Hakan Enver, operations director at Morgan McKinley Financial Services, said the fall in August was not unexpected considering the holiday season and that hiring levels would "bounce back" in September.

"The OECD has raised its UK growth forecast and last week’s Purchasing Managers’ Index revealed that the UK’s services industry grew at the fastest rate since 2006. There was also good news from the manufacturing and construction sectors and I am cautiously optimistic that this increased confidence will feed through into hiring figures during the final quarter of the year,” said Enver.

The number of job-seekers fell 25 per cent over the same period, from 7,752 in July to 5,816 in August. In comparison, the year-on-year figure for those actively seeking new career opportunities shows an increase of 35 per cent.

“While the number of financial services professionals seeking new opportunities has decreased by 25 per cent compared to last month, this can largely be attributed to seasonal factors. However the year-on-year increase of 35 per cent is indicative of an overall confidence from job seekers. I expect this to continue as we are already seeing increasing numbers of candidates beginning to explore their next career opportunity,” said Enver.

The average salary for those securing new jobs in August rose again by 20 per cent, compared to a 17 per cent increase the previous month.

“With the available bonus pool having reduced in recent years, we are seeing banks restructuring remuneration packages in order to ensure that they remain competitive when seeking to attract top talent. This has consequently led to some marked increases in base salaries,” said Enver.