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| CURRENT SECTION :: Market Reports | UK's most visited IT Contractor Site - 250k unique visitors March 2008 |
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Last month we revealed that average contractor rates had reached £28.93. The 2% rise from July to August followed a similar rise the previous month. But September has revealed another spike, as rates reach £29.47; a further 2% climb. This figure is taken from the median rate of the ten most commonly requested contractor skills, from a sample of more than 100,000 jobs. Last month we noted the step up in rates for City based contractors. This trend too is continuing. Average rates reached £28.29 per hour, rising from £28.01 the month before. Roles contracting for investment banks have always been more profitable than other industries, but this sector can be something of a double edged sword. While City firms are the first to hire whenever there is an upturn, they also tend to cut back IT spend ahead of employers in other sectors. City roles can also be tricky to get, as a great many IT managers in London’s finance houses will only look to hire contractors with experience of working in investment banks. An understanding of the unique pressures and culture within these environments is a prerequisite for many hiring managers. However, the City may prove to be an even more profitable place to be over the next year. IT recruitment firm Eurobase People has questioned 420 IT managers in the banking industry, with 52% predicting an increase in IT hiring over the next six to 12 months. "Demand in IT staff is increasingly being driven by e-enablement as banks seek a more real-time environment," says Tom Fagan, sales and marketing director of Eurobase. "This is supported by 40% of IT professionals, who chose e-trading as the single most important factor in ensuring that their organisations gain a competitive edge." The e-trading arena certainly leads the field for expected spend, with just 12% of those questioned expecting an increase in recruitment to improve CRM systems, the second most common area. Fagan sees this as a potential boom time for those with the right skills. “IT specialists with expertise in XML-based technology and those who are able to design, develop and deliver 3-tier distributed systems and enterprise wide architectures within a distributed environment, are in high demand at the moment,” he says. We expect hiring activity to increase steadily over the next 12 months with employers seeking to complete existing IT projects and commence new ones." However, his words should be tempered with some caution. The figures we have actually show limited movement in demand and rates for straight XML roles. Over the last three months, while the number of advertised vacancies has risen from 4,267 to 5,005, the average rate has remained constant at £30 per hour, though this may be explained by the frequency of the term’s occurrence in lower level web design roles. For those with a stronger knowledge of related skills trends are better, with java rates moving from £32.88 to £35.22 over the last quarter and .NET edging up from £30.93 to £31.82 over the same period. The figures are less encouraging for those in the comms arena. Last month’s dip in rates continued, with the average for the ten most commonly requested skills dipping to £26.01, from £27.07 in August. This market is typically more volatile than most and could shoot up again, but this will not comfort comms contractors while those in development for banks appear to have such a rosy future. But, in the ever turbulent world of contracting nothing can be taken for granted. While the last nine months have seen steady growth, it is worth remembering that in January this column quoted Jeff Brooks, operations director for Parity. He noted the similarities between 2005 and 2004, predicting, “a pick up through January, February and March, then topping out around August / September.” He has proved prescient so far. One long cold quarter remains in which the market can prove him wrong. Matt Farqurharson Data source: www.itjobswatch.co.uk Sep 28, 2005 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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