Barclays has made it very clear that it’s hiring. It’s added 80 people in its commodities business so far this year, and at least 450 people in its European and Asia equities business since last autumn.

What’s been less clear, however, is that BarCap has also been firing. The bank’s interim results, released today, reveal that headcount at BarCap was down 1,200 in the first half because of, ‘reductions across the business, which more than offset recruitment.’

Headcount at Barclays Wealth has also been trimmed following a spate of very vigorous hiring in 2006 and 2007.

Source: Barclays

More cheeringly, total income at Barclays Capital more than tripled over the past six months vs. the comparable period of 2008. Predictably, the bank did very well in fixed income, currencies and commodities. But thanks to the addition of Lehman, income also soared in equities, prime services and investment banking.

Over the same period, however, daily VaR rose nearly 100%, suggesting Lehman/BarCap is taking more risks than Barclays Capital was this time last year.

And, as predicted several weeks ago, pay at Barclays Capital is increasing, albeit by marginally less than analysts predicted. Staff costs across the bank rose 36% to 4.8bn in the first half, driven by a 32% increase in ‘salaries and accrued incentive payments, primarily in Barclays Capital.’

Despite the redundancies, BarCap is still in an expansionary frame of mind. Bloomberg quotes Bob Diamond as saying he intends to add 1,000 investment bankers and equities people globally this year.