City jobs plummet by a third as firms cut costs Around 35,000 new posts were created in 2012, down from 54,000 a year earlier, said recruitment firm Astbury Marsden. The research also showed that 800 new jobs were available in the City in December compared with almost 1,500 in the same month in 2011. Mark Cameron, chief operating officer at Astbury Marsden, said cost-cutting remained a key focus for senior management and board members last year. He said: "Tighter regulation inclu­ding higher capital requirements forced up costs at a time when revenues dipped due to a number of factors including a continued weak economy and less trading activity. Although broad cost-cutting is fairly typical in the City during a downturn, 2012 was particularly significant as senior management in banks took very decisive action and implemented major structural changes including winding down entire units. Hopefully, we are now behind the worst of the cost-cutting. Although banks may still tinker with staffing numbers, most of the obvious and immediate cuts are likely to have now been made.