'Big four' banks cut 189,000 jobs worldwide in five years

By the end of this year, Britain's four biggest banks will have axed 189,000 jobs around the world in the five years since the financial crisis broke, according to new calculations.

The figures, compiled by Bloomberg, show that Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and HSBC will have cut their global headcount by 24% to a nine-year low of 606,000, compared with their pre-crisis peak of 795,000 in 2008.

Royal Bank of Scotland Holdings has axed 78,000 jobs since its £45bn taxpayer bailout in 2008. This includes 4,000 roles in its UK high-street banking business. Sir Philip Hampton, chairman of the bank, which is now 81% owned by the taxpayer, told shareholders this month that further job cuts could not be ruled out.

An RBS spokeswoman said the 78,000 job losses included 39,000 staff who had worked for Fortis and Santander when the three banks joined forces to launch a takeover of Dutch rival ABN Amro in 2007. This is now seen as one of the most disastrous acquisitions in business history, squeezing RBS's capital buffers to tiny margins and exposing the Edinburgh-based bank to rotten US sub-prime loans.

UK banks have reduced their global headcount by 24% since 2008

HSBC, Europe's largest bank, is down to 254,000 staff, compared with 313,000 in 2008. The bank infuriated unions last month when it described 3,166 job losses as "demising" roles. HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver plans to slim the bank further, cutting staff to 240,000 by the end of 2016 to trim costs and boost shareholder dividends.

An HSBC spokeswoman said the bank had made a net reduction of 1,100 jobs in the UK, once new positions were taken into account.

Lloyds, which received a £20.5bn bailout in 2008, will have cut 31,000 jobs by the end of this year, including 2,340 in 2013. The bank, now 39% owned by the British taxpayer, announced 850 job losses this month to cut costs, but was unable to give figures on how many of the 31,000 job losses were in the UK.

Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins, appointed to clean up the bank after the Libor-rate rigging scandal, has said it may axe 40,000 roles in the coming years. Barclays will have cut 20,800 jobs by the end of this year since the start of the crisis. This includes about 5,500 jobs lost in the UK between 2008 and 2012.

The figures come after three of the four banks reported sharply improved profits. Last month, Lloyds posted first quarter profits of £2bn, up from £288m at the same time a year ago. HSBC this month said it made a quarterly pre-tax profit of $8.4bn, almost double the $4.3bn it reported at the same time last year. RBS swung to a £826m profit after a £1.4bn loss last time. Barclays last month reported adjusted first quarter profits had fallen 25% to £1.8bn, partly due to the cost of the bank's restructuring programme.

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Article source : http://www.guardian.co.uk

Young people have 10% less chance of securing a job, TUC study finds

Report finds 58% of 18-24-year-olds found work in 2013, against almost 65% in 2009, leaving a shortfall of 395,000 jobs

Young people are 10% less likely to be in work today than before the recession, the TUC has said ahead of official data tomorrow that is expected to show stubbornly persistent unemployment.

Only 58% of 18-24 year olds found work in 2013, compared with almost 65% in 2009, the unions said, leaving a shortfall of 395,000 jobs.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Ministers never stop claiming that a record number of people are in work. What they fail to mention is that it is more down to population growth than as a result of their employment policies."

"It's particularly worrying that 18-24-year-olds have not benefited from the recent improvement in the jobs market and they are losing out again as unemployment is rising."

The battle for work is exemplified by data showing that as many as 45 people are applying for every low-skilled job, published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development on Monday. Many employers overwhelmed with applications told the CIPD they would not even consider school leavers or the long term unemployed.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “It’s worrying that 18-24-year-olds have not benefited from the recent improvement in the jobs market.

The number of people looking for work rose by 70,000 between December and February, according to the latest count, taking the unemployment tally to 2.56 million people, 7.9% of the labour force.

Economists expect the unemployment rate to remain unchanged when updated statistics are published on Wednesday.

Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight, said: "The underlying growth performance still seems insufficient to generate many new jobs in the private sector given the extended weakness of the economy and relatively high unemployment levels." He predicted that unemployment could rise to 8.2%, or 2.68 million people, by the end of the year.

According to the TUC, women over 50 have seen the biggest improvement in their employment prospects, as rising state pension ages delay retirement. An extra 166,800 50-64-year-olds stayed in work in 2013 compared to 2008. The TUC is calling for a job guarantee for every young person who has been out of work for six months.

"Ministers must do far more to help young people back into work. The current schemes are clearly not working. It's time for a bold new approach," said O'Grady.

A spokesperson at the Department for Work and Pensions said: "Tens of thousands of young people are benefiting from our schemes which help them get a job, set up their own business and gain experience to boost their CV and we're offering employers up to £2,275 if they take on an unemployed young person. We know youth unemployment remains a big challenge but there are now 65,000 fewer 18-24-year-olds claiming Jobseeker's Allowance compared to this time last year and over the same period youth unemployment has fallen by 46,000."

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Article source : http://www.guardian.co.uk