English and its reputation as a cultural center are all features of the mix which makes
London so attractive. An interesting point made by two respondents was that many non-
UK employees are keen to work and live in London so that their children will attend
English speaking schools and develop strong bilingual skills. Culture alone is not enough,
however, and one respondent commented on how low the flow of international talent to
Paris is when compared to London.
The London labor market was seen to have a number of other important features in the
interview survey. The flexibility of the market was regarded as being an advantage
compared to other European countries. As one non-UK banking respondent put it, “We’re
not afraid to put people here”. In the face of the natural cyclicality of financial services, the
flexibility to contract and expand when necessary is placed at a premium. A banker
commented:
In x you get - I can’t do this, I can’t do that. I can’t employ these, I can’t employ those
- in a way which just doesn’t exist in London. It is important ... The reality is in
London we have virtually total flexibility as long as we have the money.
Another feature is the ability of staff to gain experience in London and this acts as a
means of transferring best practice internationally. An analysis of the geographical reach of
London’s labor market in recruitment terms indicated two main trends. Firstly, most labor
is recruited from within the South East of England. Secondly, the ability to draw in labor
from around the world, not necessarily in great numbers, is important and very important to
a small number of firms. For some grades of staff, the recruitment is overwhelmingly of
people already in London but the more senior and more specialized labor becomes, the
further a-field the relevant labor market extends and for some types of labor the London
labor market has global reach. In Table 4, banks and investment banks emerge as
recruiting a significantly smaller proportion of their staff from the South East and insurance
firms significantly more, one investment banker commented:
Our skills are brought from all over Europe to London. We see London as the
European hub in our European network.
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