Dwindling demand for IT contractors 'at an end'

Seven consecutive months of dwindling demand for IT contractors came to an end in November, providing an otherwise "gloomy" labour market with at least one "bright spot".

Publishing its Report on Jobs, the Recruitment & Employment Confederation scored IT contractor demand at 52.8, the first time the score has improved on itself since April.

That still means the pool of temporary IT jobs is narrowing, however, as demand for IT contractors last November stood at 53.5, the report shows.

Although demand for these freelance computer workers has since increased - it leapt to 65.0 this March - it fell back to such a level in September, following a sharp slump in June.

Freelance developers and web architects appear less likely than most to have felt the weakness, given REC recruiters say the skills for such temporary IT roles are in short supply, making them sought-after.

"Bright spots in an otherwise gloomy data set were that the agencies surveyed reported rising demand...for IT and computing staff", reflected report co-author KPMG, the professional services firm.

"[Across most sectors though,] economic uncertainty is resulting in a number of employers placing jobs on hold and taking longer to make recruitment decisions."

In the contract jobs market, but not exclusive to IT, these budgetary pressures led to only marginal pay rises, or restrictions on the overall intake of temps.

Where temporary staff hiring managers in November were free from such constraints, contractors and other freelancers emerged as the favourable option, primarily to help clear backlogs.

Although seasonal hiring for the Christmas period will have also lifted temporary workers' prospects, the REC believes the economy is the managers' motivating factor.

It said: "Anecdotal evidence suggested that many clients had preferred to cover increased workloads through the use of flexible staffing, at a time of heightened concern over the state of the economy."

Meanwhile Bernard Brown, head of business services at KPMG reflected: "[Only] time will tell if recent interventions are enough to reverse the worrying trend of the last few months.

"Last week's autumn statement contained a number of welcome measures aimed at helping businesses to grow and to ease red tape around employment, but they are unlikely to make much difference in the short term."