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Gloom in the IT jobs market is contained by a report showing that the current number of out of work contractors is only around half of what it was following the dotcom crash. Despite IT contractor demand and pay now hurting more than they were in the last downturn, their long-term joblessness today is just 7.5%, down from 13% in 2003, the report says. Since the tech bubble burst months earlier, which led to mass lay-offs, organisations have insisted on leaner IT units, meaning they now have far fewer IT roles to close overall. Explaining his firm’s findings, Giant’s managing director Matthew Brown said IT departments have been “pared to the bone” and cautious with “vanity” hires ever since 2003. At the end of that year, which saw 12 months of job cuts, more than half of IT contractors told the firm they would opt for a long-term contract over a better-paid alternative. Yet the number of contractors currently wanting the same - stability over earnings – has risen to almost two-thirds, implying job security is now a bigger worry for IT contractors than in 2003. “With rates in some sectors having been cut,” Mr Brown said, “contractors are clearly still concerned about job security and whether…the market still has some way to fall.” Contractors in the embattled financial services sector show the least faith: just 15% saw the sector as offering their next assignment, down from 24% in 2003. The public sector, by contrast, was expected to provide the next role for 30% of the contractors, up from just 13% saying the same in the months following the dotcom crash. “Demand for workers in the public sector is usually much less volatile during a recession than the private sector,” Mr Brown explained. “Despite the risk that funding for public sector IT projects may be adversely affected by the Budget, for the short term at least projects are likely to continue as planned, as funding for them has already been earmarked.” Yet the general jobs market for both permanent and contract staff is in its worst state for 11 years, shows the latest Report on Jobs from the REC, whose members include IT recruiters. Hourly rates for temporary roles continued to fall last month, mainly due to availability of contractors increasing at its fastest pace since the report was launched in 1998. Meanwhile, ongoing “cost pressures” at organisations explain why the jobs market recovery “might take longer and be more protracted than many hope”, warned KPMG, the report’s co-author. However, the report also found demand for IT contractors was stronger in March than it was for permanent IT staff, led by a shortage of freelance CNC programmers and full-time developers. Apr 15, 2009 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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