Data from online job ads in three key areas of financial services show that the worst of the employment decline in that industry may be over.
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According to WANTED Technologies data, ads for new jobs in some areas of banking, brokerage and insurance ticked upward in February.
Overall, however, WANTED Technologies forecast a loss of 24,000 in the sector for February.
On March 6, BLS said that things were slightly worse that we expected. The government agency reported a drop of 27,200 jobs in the finance sector.
So let's look at the data by smaller units as defined by the federal government's NAICS codes.
WANTED's data shows two consecutive upward ticks in new job ads for employment in NAICS code 522, credit intermediation and related services in banking. Job ads are now down roughly 30% year-over-year, above the 40% decline we saw in November.
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WANTED has also seen a single upward tick for jobs in NAICS 523, securities, commodity contracts and other financial investments — the brokerage community.
And finally, the data shows that new job ads for NAICS 524, insurance carriers and related services, has twice bounced back from a floor of roughly negative 40% year-over-year.
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