The number of financial sector vacancies increased by 18% in August, compared with July - the biggest rise in any one month so far this year, according to the latest Morgan McKinley London Employment Monitor.

However, the monitor also shows that there were still 39% fewer new jobs than a year ago (August 2008) and candidate flow slowed during August, with 19% fewer new financial services jobseekers registered than in July 2009 and 5% fewer than the same month the last year (August 2008).

Jobseekers who did find a new job in the month took an average of 56 days to do so, three-and-a-half days less than their counterparts in August 2008.

The average City salary was £50,574, up 0.3% compared to August 2008.

Andrew Evans, managing director of Morgan McKinley’s financial services division, says: “It’s encouraging to see August register the highest number of new job vacancies in London’s financial services sector so far this year. This figure goes some way to confirming that employers’ commitment to hire is continuing to improve.

“While there was little evidence of seasonal factors affecting the flow of new jobs coming onto the market, it was a different story for jobseekers. It seemed that many financial services professionals delayed their job search while they took annual leave. However, for those who did secure a role in August, it took them, on average, less than two months - a slight improvement compared with this time last year.”