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| CURRENT SECTION :: Market Reports | UK's most visited IT Contractor Site - 250k unique visitors March 2008 |
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Average rates across the ten most commonly requested skills have reached £30.87. It’s a tiny increase of a fraction of one percent on last month’s £30.77, but an increase nonetheless. However, it should be noted that £30.87 is likely to be lower than the true average. This is an average of hourly rates, and discounts senior contractors who are typically paid day rates by firms hoping to keep a handle on costs. But as a measure of demand for contractors, this figure has proved an accurate reflection of broader market trends. For example, earlier this month, Contractor UK reported on Atsco findings that showed City contractor rates had returned to their pre 9/11 peak. This is reflected by our own findings. Contract roles quoting the generic term, ‘finance,’ for example, are higher now than at any time since these monthly summaries began in December 2004. The current £30.92 is up from £28.80 at the same time last year, and makes ‘finance’ the third most commonly requested skill (from tenth last year) behind ‘analyst’ and ‘developer.’ There are 9,000 finance related contract roles currently waiting to be filled. The ongoing industry fear is that demand for low and mid level contracting vacancies may fall as such roles are outsourced overseas. Earlier this month, analysts SSL claimed that the number of jobs advertised online had fallen by 6% during the second half of last year. This is actually contradicted by the figures provided to us by Itjobswatch, which show an increase in the number of roles advertised. But this idea of top end growth while the bottom end withers does appear to have some credence. It is apparent in one area that we highlighted in December as likely to show strong demand in 2006. Sarbanes-Oxley is tipped to show big growth as compliance becomes a factor for any firm with a US listing. Here, average minimum and maximum rates over the last three months show an interesting trend. The lower average has actually fallen, from £29.87 to £27.70. This is despite a rise in the overall number of roles requested. However, at the top end, rates have grown. The average maximum hourly rate over this period has risen from £33.09 to £37.00. The same is true with more common skills. Where Windows is quoted in an advert, it is safe to assume a support role of some kind. Here, average maximum hourly rates have remained fixed at £20.73, but average minimum rates have fallen from £19.02 to £18.72. ERP contractors can afford to smile though, as SAP and Oracle are showing significant rate movements. The number of advertised Oracle contract vacancies has more than doubled over the last three months. There are just shy of 7,000 roles currently advertised, compared with 2,997 three months ago. This has naturally affected rates, which have shifted from £34.17 to £36.97 over the same period. Bearing in mind that in January 2004 this rate was just £31.50, and that the purchases of JDEdwards and Peoplesoft are bringing new, merged technologies, it is likely to remain a profitable area for some time to come. The same can be said for rival SAP. Over the same 13-month period, hourly averages have leapt from £32.00 to £46.29. And the number of roles requesting SAP experience has trebled in the last three months alone, reaching 2,636. Particularly hot modules include SAP HR, offering £500 per day, with some 200 vacancies. And whoever gets the two ‘senior SAP programme manager’ roles will be able to enjoy a healthy £800 per day. Matt Farquharson Data source: www.itjobswatch.co.uk Feb 22, 2006 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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