Fewer City job candidates are identifying themselves as gay in job applications because they feel insecure about finding work in the midst of the credit crunch, according to new research.

A survey of 1,450 job applicants by the financial recruitment specialists Joslin Rowe Associates found that the number of respondents anonymously identifying themselves as gay or lesbian for City jobs fell from 7.7 per cent in 2006-07 to 7.4 per cent in 2007-08. About 10 per cent of the population of London is estimated by the government to be gay or lesbian.