Temporary staff upturn ‘yet to lift IT contractors’

Better prospects for temporary job-seekers owing to nervousness about hiring full-time is yet to lift the freelance IT labour market out of negative territory, a recruitment body has shown.

In its Report on Jobs, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation scored IT contractor demand at a new low: 52.1, up on last October (49.6) but deepening the drop that began in this year’s second quarter.

Although the report indicates the decline for contractors has been only slight since September, it represents the seventh consecutive month of fewer temporary IT workers being sought-after.

Yet such non-permanent candidates, generally, have the edge, REC repeated; pointing to sharper growth among temporary billings, as end-clients are putting full-time hires “on hold” due to economic uncertainties. So “in many cases”, its member agencies found, temporary workers are being hired to “plug gaps.”

The report suggests this isn’t happening as fast as contractors eyeing IT departments might like however: ‘permies’ with IT skills were the full-time staff most required out of seven other occupations.

In fact, the spike in permanent IT opportunities was hailed by co-author KPMG as the report’s “positive news,” albeit less so for arriving on “a knife edge” for Britain and at “a critical time for European economic stability.”

Elsewhere, the October reading suggests the available supply of IT skills on a full-time basis was able to adequately respond to the higher demand, as only one role, Java Development, proved hard for REC agents to fill.

The sample of IT recruiters also struggled to find Java skills on a contract basis, and contended with a shortage of freelance Business Analysts.