Only two of city's biggest employers have cut jobs

ONLY two of Edinburgh's top ten biggest employers have reduced staff numbers in the past year, according to figures supplied by the companies themselves.

Royal Bank of Scotland, which lost £24.1 billion last year, has reduced staff numbers by 357, while the city council has reduced its headcount by 312.

But many more job losses are expected at both organisations – and most of Edinburgh's top employers – as the impact of the economic downturn continues to hit the Capital hard.

Last month, the council, which is facing a £92 million black hole in its budget, admitted that another 2,000 jobs could be at risk as it continues to battle against its budget deficit.

But the figures showing the number of staff employed at the end of March reveal that many firms either kept staff numbers level or even added employees.

The biggest rise in employee numbers among the ten biggest employers was at the University of Edinburgh, which added nearly 300 staff, while NHS Lothian, the Capital's largest employer, also now has more staff in Edinburgh than it did a year ago, as does Standard Life.

Although the figures appear to show a better-than-expected picture at the city's leading firms and organisations, business leaders warned that worse is to come.

Graham Birse, deputy chief executive of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, warned: "There will be a lag between announcing restructuring, the consultation process and actual job losses coming through."

But he added: "The large public sector and the diversified economy does help to protect Edinburgh."

Today's data gives the first true indication of what the early impact of the economic downturn has been on the city's biggest firms.

RBS, which remains the city's largest private-sector employer, has reduced staff in Edinburgh by 4 per cent in just over a year.

According to the data it supplied to the city council, it had 9,184 full-time-equivalent staff in March, down from 9,452 a year earlier. RBS said today it had since trimmed a further 89 posts in Edinburgh, meaning it now has 9,095, down by 357 on the equivalent figure only 15 months ago.

Part of the overall decline was down to about 170 former RBS staff switching to Tesco Personal Finance when the supermarket bought out RBS's share in the business.

In the top 25 employers list, Edinburgh Napier University added more staff than any other organisation, with employee numbers rising by 523 to 1,892.

Councillor Tom Buchanan, the city's economic development leader, said: "Though some of our major employers have been suffering and job losses are likely to be felt over coming months, the city's economy is diverse and has solid foundations.

"It is particularly reassuring to see the scale of our higher education sector as this highlights the work being done to develop the workforce skills and innovative businesses of the future."