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| CURRENT SECTION :: Market Reports | UK's most visited IT Contractor Site - 250k unique visitors March 2008 |
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IT contracting has grown more over the last month than any sector of temporary recruitment out of eight key industries in the UK labour market. Demand for computing and IT personnel on a temporary or contract basis now outpaces the call for permie IT expertise, according to top recruiters. The latest REC/Deloitte Jobs does however show the contract market to be short of software programmers, while website developers are most in demand to fill permanent vacancies. This situation has been compounded for employers throughout November because of a notable drop off in candidate availability, meaning some vacancies are simply not being filled. But this is good news for contract and permie workers of all eight major industries, including IT, as declining availability has soared rates for the sixteenth consecutive month. Most notably those employed on a temporary basis report the biggest rate rise since August 1998. Yet growth in both temporary and contract placements has now eased since October, due to the skill shortage - as have starting rates for all part time professionals. In IT, temporary billings climbed to a first place 64.3 on the NCC index, while permie counterparts achieved third in their category with 63.5. Other skilled roles at the top end of the contract market including Blue Collar workers and Executive/Professional, achieved eighth and sixth place respectively. They were the only temporary workers who failed to accelerate on demand from the previous month. Such a low level of demand is contrasted by IT’s strongest competitor - Engineering and Construction, whose sector professionals are more in demand than IT permies and second to IT contractors. General demand for contract staff overall is 59.2, against the permanent reading of 62.8. Interpreting the figures as part of the sixteenth consecutive monthly rise for both sectors, the REC said related skills shortages would hurt employers over the Christmas period. “The tightening job market, particularly at this time of the year makes it increasingly difficult for employers to attract suitably skilled candidates,” said Brett Walsh, managing director at Deloitte. “Retailers are likely to be particularly effected with 20 per cent of firms reporting…[that] they will be unable to recruit the right staff over the coming Christmas period.” Meanwhile, Gareth Osborne, managing director of REC, said: “The employment market is characterized by a tightening in supply with severe skills shortages emerging as one of the biggest threats to the continuing growth of the economy. If the UK economy is to meet its predicted growth in the next few years, action needs to be taken quickly and purposefully to improve the employability of the workforce.” The report also showed service providers have recently increased their contract and permanent staff, for the sixteenth consecutive month in the last labour report on Jobs for 2004. For 2005, new research suggests IT directors will face their biggest challenge in keeping employees unless they address IT department morale. Computer Weekly found 50 per cent of the 100 top IT directors attending a City IT conference were worried about losing workers who were central to the success of their business over the next fiscal year. Dec 8, 2004 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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