Banking and finance roles slide as labour market restructures, Employment Hero data reveals
Employment Hero, the AI-powered employment platform, has today released its latest monthly platform data, revealing that employment growth in the banking and finance sector contracted last month.
The data, based on over 3,300 real-time employee records across more than 120 banking and finance businesses, forms part of a wider trend where employment growth in traditional graduate sectors is stalling, with an estimated 700,000 graduates now out of work* .
Traditional white-collar roles in flux
Employment growth in banking and finance contracted in June, down 1.6% month-on-month. This reflects a longer-term trend, with growth falling 5.7% over the past three months. This is indicative of a sector which is navigating political uncertainty as well as going through technological shifts.
Alongside this, wages fell 4.9% year-on-year across banking and finance roles, the only sector with negative wage growth in June. The median full-time salary for banking and finance roles also hit a 13-month low, falling to £47,025 from the £52,723 recorded in June 2025. Alongside this decline in the banking and finance sector, month-on-month employment growth in HR & accountancy was almost flat at 0.1% month-on-month in June.
Shifting priorities
This negative growth coincides with young people moving towards more vocational roles. Employment Hero data shows that employment growth in the construction sector rose 2.1% month-on-month in June, and up 8.3% versus three months ago. Gen Z workers are leading this surge, with growth recorded at 5.5% month-on-month.
The growth in roles in sectors like construction for younger workers is also happening at a time when attitudes towards education are changing. Research commissioned by Employment Hero revealed that almost half (46%) of small businesses now value apprenticeships and degrees equally, while 37% value the vocational route more. Alongside this, 48% of workers feel their university education is irrelevant to today’s workforce.
Kevin Fitzgerald, UK managing director at Employment Hero said: “We’re living through a shift in the UK’s labour market. Industries such as banking, finance & insurance form a large part of the UK economy and are often seen as the natural home for lots of graduates. However, these sectors are working through significant economic pressure and navigating a technological shift, and our data suggests that many businesses are adopting a more cautious approach to hiring.
“For young people, the impact of this shift is playing out in real time, in what is an increasingly competitive jobs market. It is no surprise to see that many are changing tack, taking up more vocational roles in sectors where apprenticeships are more common. We expect that this will continue and any ambition to reindustrialise Britain may contribute further to the upward trend.”