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| CURRENT SECTION :: Jobs | UK's most visited IT Contractor Site - 250k unique visitors March 2008 |
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The number of new online UK IT jobs has slumped dramatically, with opportunities for both full-time and freelance techies drying up for the first time since September 2007. Although London was the only UK region to offer fewer online IT jobs last month than it did in March last year, its slowdown has helped drag IT job creation nationwide. In fact, figures from Monster.com, the world’s largest online recruiter, show that UK IT hiring fell 8% last month, when compared to February. Regionally, the decline was “broad-based”, with all major regions showing fewer opportunities than in the previous month, said Hugo Sellert, head of economic research at Monster. The site’s figures, obtained by CUK, show that the availability of new IT jobs noticeably dipped in the Midlands, after five months of growth, but was the most marked in London. They coincide with warnings from KPMG, the professional services firm that the banking crisis is making employers, particularly those in the City, increasingly cautious. “The banking crisis is clearly taking its toll as the financial sector as well as IT & computing are among the sectors where demand for both permanent and temporary staff is weakest.” Alan Nolan, KMPG’s director, added that as a result of the economic pressures, the hiring outlook of all employers, regardless of sector, is getting more conservative by the day. So far this has benefited non-permanent workers, who are easier to dismiss than employees, as employers have placed more emphasis on temporary appointments, Mr Nolan said. Despite the outlook, online IT job adverts for both types of staff jobs rose 9% over the first quarter of 2008, compared with a more moderate 7% increase over the first quarter last year. Monster’s figures also show that most outfits were reluctant to let the start of the crisis hurt their IT hiring for early 2008, as the rate of IT job creation has accelerated since the last quarter of 2007. Given the high demand for IT skills before the credit woes, the resulting turmoil looks like a correction to the market, rather than a depression on the scale of the dotcom crash. Fewer online IT jobs last month is also no surprise when compared to February – “traditionally a strong month for recruitment as employers re-address their staffing needs following the slower holiday season,” Mr Sellert said. “Interestingly, London was the only region which is showing fewer IT opportunities than twelve months ago,” he added. “Although London [and the South East] remains the largest region in terms of the number of available online IT job opportunities, the decline year-over-year there suggests a levelling of the IT job market in the capital region.” Financial recruiter Joslin Rowe reportedly believes today’s recruitment slowdown is “very different from the late 1990s, where there was a knee-jerk reaction, resulting in big job losses.” Spokeswoman Belinda Walmsley told the BBC: “We've been through this before and the markets recovered. The sector isn't in crisis. There still remains more jobs available than people, although the gap is narrowing.” Yet research from the Centre of Economic and Business Research predicts that London faces the worst employment downturn since the dotcom crash, with up to 20,000 job losses in financial services in the next two years. The breakneck expansion of City jobs since 2002 will come to an end before this year is over, Richard Snook of the CEBR told the Independent, which obtained the research. Recruitment firm Hudson says the tighter recruitment of financial IT contractors, particularly by investment banks and investment management firms, is now depressing some pay rates. “We are starting to see the economic turmoil squeeze pay rates for IT contractors,” said Paul Elworthy, director of the firm’s IT banking and finance division. “In a particular, rates for new IT hires have been affected, while some of our other clients are looking at how they can justify, and where possible reduce, the cost of their existing contractors.” Apr 15, 2008 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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