Switching City jobs brings a pay jump of 24 per cent

City workers who switched their jobs last month will have started the year with an average 24 per cent pay rise, figures have revealed.

London's financial services sector had 2,331 available jobs in January, 76 per cent more than in December, with IT, compliance and auditing roles among the most lucrative.

However, the figures from Morgan McKinley show that the actual number of jobs available dropped by 18 per cent year on year.

Experts warned that storm clouds are now gathering over the City jobs market, with thousands of financial services jobs expected to be cut this year. Hakan Enver, operations director, said: "January once again illustrated the pattern of renewed hiring activity that we see at this time of year.

"Hiring-managers and key decision-makers returned to work, preparing to release new jobs to the market following budget and headcount restrictions limiting hiring in December.

"While a 76 per cent increase in job availability may seem like a sign of an improving market, looking back at 2012, job availability fell to a real low across the City.

"This lowered level of job availability underlines research from the CEBR, which forecasts that London is set to lose 13,000 financial services jobs this year."