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| CURRENT SECTION :: Market Reports | UK's most visited IT Contractor Site - 250k unique visitors March 2008 |
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May brought more bad news for those concerned by last month’s unseasonal tumble in average rates. After falling to a year-low, the average rate across the ten most commonly requested skills has dropped again. This now sits at a £27.60. This is a step back of almost 8 per cent on last month’s figure of £30.03. Last month this column highlighted the worrying nature of an April dip in rates. It is typically a month that brings fresh budgets and enthusiasm, so the fall in rates bore ill for the rest of the year. It now seems this may have been the beginnings of a trend rather than a fleeting hiccup. This sharp fall is rare given the broad spread of skills covered. The more typical trend for average rates is steady change, despite fluctuations in specific markets. Last month we highlighted how susceptible the telecoms contractor market is to wild change. This month, that trend continues, and it brings more bad news. The average rate across the ten most commonly requested telecoms skills has tumbled 9 per cent in the last month. In April, this sat at £27.46. This month, it has fallen to just £25.05. What makes this most disconcerting for telecoms contractors is the range of falling rates. This tumble has not come about through one skill taking a massive hit; rather, average rates have fallen across the board. Each of those listed in our top ten have fallen from their average of last month. But, there may be some longer-term good news for the sector. Towards the end of May, BT announced plans for a £1 billion upgrade of its phone lines and broadband networks. Openreach will be doing the work, which will require 1,300 new engineers. The vast bulk of these will be permanent staff, but as one of the country’s largest users of contractors, and with a new green workforce to manage, contractor talent is likely to be at a premium for some time to come. This could be a good time to reaffirm contacts at the firm. There have been two other broader indicators of note this month. Unemployment figures were highlighted in much of the national press, as they showed a rise for the twelfth time in the last 13 months, reaching their highest level since 2002. When people cut jobs, they cut contractors first, and this may indicate a continued toughening of the market. Conversely though, things are looking peachy in the City. A report by recruitment firm Morgan McKinley showed 20 per cent more City vacancies than this time last year. While the report was not specifically looking at IT roles, this demand for City-savvy talent is sure to affect IT contractor rates. This is reflected in our figures. The term ‘banking’ has become one of the ten most commonly requested words in job ads for the first time in months. As a result, rates are nudging upwards. Hourly rates have gone from £29 to £29.58, rising almost 3 per cent in three months. Day rates have shifted a similar percentage, from £448 to £461. Otherwise, it’s fairly grim reading. The rates for the three most popular programming languages – SQL, Java and Csharp – have all fallen too. SQL has gone from £31.44 to £28.53 in the last month, Java from £37.96 to £35.93 and Csharp from £32.63 to £32.88 over the same period. And the fall goes across operating systems. Of the top ten most commonly requested operating systems, only NT and XP have seen a rise in rate, and these command two of the lowest hourly payments in the list. Look again next month to see if the trend continues. Matt Farquharson Data source: www.itjobswatch.co.uk May 31, 2006 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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