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| CURRENT SECTION :: Market Reports | UK's most visited IT Contractor Site - 250k unique visitors March 2008 |
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June has seen average contractor rates make an unprecedented surge after a worrying tumble through May. From April to May this year, the average hourly rate across the ten most commonly requested job titles fell by 8%, to £27.60. However, a summer surge has pushed rates up to £32.96 – a jump of 19%. It is a satisfying movement that kicks back against what was beginning to look like an uncomfortable trend. April had seen a 2006 low, which was worrying given the number of firms that run budgets to financial, rather than calendar years. But May brought worse news, with a further dip. This month’s figures indicate this was a blip, rather than a longer slump. A sudden upward movement in rates is not unusual at this time of year. Most recruiters report increased activity through June, as projects get pushed through ahead of July and August when holiday absence among permies and line managers can slow sign off and progress. There can also be a rise in the number of short-term filler contracts. Much of the improvement has been led by SAP. Contracts advertised as “SAP Consultant” have reached an average hourly rate of £61.06. At the same time last year, this figure was £49. This is an increase of 24.80%. The rate has gone up by almost 12% (from £54.55) in the last month alone. The other significant movement comes in very different areas – an encouraging sign for the market overall. Rates for architects are up from £39.90 to £41.51. And support analysts also benefit, rates moving from £18.88 to £19.08. Another notable mover is Java. Developers here are picking up 14% more than a year ago when rates were £34 per hour. Now they are getting £38.39. One area where the news isn’t so bright is finance. At the beginning of the year, roles requesting finance experience averaged £30.17 per hour. Today, they sit at £27.21. This 11% fall however is not reflected in the City itself. The quoting of ‘finance’ in job ads is often more generic than ‘banking,’ where recruiters are specifically looking for contractors who have worked in investment banks and are used to that cultural environment. Jobs in ‘banking’ have nudged up from £30 to £34.66 over the last year. There are two reasons for this sluggishness. Banks pay their money towards traders long before support functions, and the lean towards outsourcing in City firms has restricted the growth of contractor roles. One recent report noted that most Permanent IT staff in financial firms saw an end of year bonus for 2005 of less than the year before. This, while the pink sheets were lauding record bonuses for financiers themselves. There is better news across the Microsoft platforms, after a general downward trend. XP and NT daily rates have both dipped noticeably, if not dramatically, in the last 12 months. Both hourly and daily rates for XP jobs have fallen, suggesting junior and senior staff are both suffering. These are down 9% to £264, and 1% to £17.32 over the last year. But recent news is better. XP jobs have risen in line with the rest of the market in the last month, where they were at £17.25. The increase is small but significant, as XP had been moving against the upward trend across other operating systems. For the moment then, the news is broadly good, with a healthy topline increase and upward movement in most other areas. Matt Farquharson Data source: www.itjobswatch.co.uk Jun 28, 2006 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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