Brexit just boosted finance job applications in Dublin by 800%
The lack of certainty over the City of London's so-called financial services passport, which allows banks to sell their services to customers from the European Union, has damaged confidence in the capital's jobs market.
Mark Cahill, Manpower Group's UK managing director said: "Many finance operations in the City of London depend on the EU 'banking passport' and the fall in hiring intentions could reflect pessimism over the future of this agreement. We've already seen London's competitors like Paris and Frankfurt making overtures to the City's big finance firms."
The Manpower surveyed 2,102 UK employers, asking whether they intend to hire additional workers or reduce the size of their workforce in the coming quarter. The survey is used as a key economic statistic by both the Bank of England and the UK Government.
The seasonally adjusted Net Employment Outlook stayed at +5% for the final three months of the year, but the report found that employers in six out of the nine sectors surveyed were less optimistic about adding jobs in the future.
Business and financial services, construction and utilities all reported four-point falls in employer optimism.
"After the initial shock of Brexit, we're entering a new phase of prolonged economic uncertainty. The future of freedom of movement across the EU is of particular concern," Cahill said. "As UK businesses are reliant on European talent to help fill the skills gap, we urge the government to prioritise maintaining the free movement of people across the EU during its negotiations."
The fall in the value of the pound made the UK a more attractive holiday destination for foreign tourists, having a positive impact on the retail, wholesale and hospitality sector, which rose 3% to 6%.
On Monday, the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC), an influential business trade body, drastically cut growth forecasts for Britain's economy in the wake of Brexit.
In its first update since the vote to leave the European Union, the BCC cut its GDP growth forecasts from 2.2% to 1.8% this year, from 2.3% to 1% in 2017, and from 2.4% to 1.8% in 2018. The revisions mean Britain's economy is set to be £43.8 billion ($58.1 billion) smaller than the BCC had originally forecast by the time 2019 rolls around.