Good times may lie ahead for recruiting in the capital, according to encouraging results from recent studies of the London job market by Morgan McKinley and Bank of Scotland.

Morgan McKinley found that the number of new jobs coming into the City job market increased to 6,489 in August, a 9.5% rise from July.

Average City salaries decreased by 4.2% to £49,334 in August compared with July, but they are still up 1.7% on August 2004.

“While the summer months usually mean a slowdown in hiring, it does not seem to have been the case this year as new jobs continued to flow on to the City jobs market,” said Morgan McKinley chief executive Robert Thesiger.

“However, the finance sector remains candidate-driven and skilled finance professionals will continue to be in strong demand during the last quarter of 2005 and in to 2006.”

Bank of Scotland’s latest London Labour Market Report, which surveyed more than 100 recruitment and employment consultants, found that average permanent staff salaries rose in August, with 14% of recruitment consultancies seeing higher salaries than July.

However, the number of permanent staff placements had its smallest rise in more than two years.