The hiring outlook for the insurance and finance sector is shrinking, with fewer employers intending to hire, according to recent recruitment surveys.

The surveys come amid reports of impending layoffs at several insurers and widespread redundancies at major banks.

A report by recruitment specialists eJobs says job advertisements for financial planners fell by more than 10% in January compared with the start of 2011.

Nearly 27% of the eJobs report’s respondents said they expect 2012 to be a “hard year” with possible employment cuts.

Just under half – 47.7% – expect their headcount to remain the same and a quarter of employers say they expect to increase numbers by a small amount.

Hudson’s latest Employment Expectations report, based on responses from 4338 employers in late December, indicates only 20.6% of managers in insurance and financial services plan to increase permanent headcount.

The expectations were weaker than the October quarter by 5.4 percentage points and down by 12.2 percentage points since December 2010.

Hudson Accounting & Finance National Practice Director Dean Davidson says specialist skills are still highly sought after, with financial planning, underwriting, mortgage lending, retail banking and sales skills remaining in demand.

The most significant fall in confidence in the sector came from Victoria, where sentiment fell 10.77 percentage points over the quarter to 19.8% and down 18 percentage points since the start of 2011.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey reports similar results for the finance, insurance and real estate sectors.

“Employers anticipate an upbeat hiring pace in the coming quarter, despite a considerable quarter-over-quarter decline in the outlook,” Manpower’s analysis says. “Hiring prospects are slightly weaker year-over-year.”