Strong IT contractor demand relaxed in June

Growth in demand for IT contractors sharply decreased in June following the record-high it reached in May.

The decrease may mean that clients got their fill of contract IT expertise (typically hired for three months) for this coming summer in May, as demand then peaked at 61.8.

Now, adds agency body the Recruitment & Employment Confederation in its June Report on Jobs, demand for IT contractors is much lower -- 59.7.

Although that means IT contractor demand still grew in June (any score over 50.0 implies monthly growth), it represents the lowest score for IT contractors since January 2018.

The soaring temperatures of late may have signalled to many the onset of  summer -- a period when hiring activity typically relaxes due to candidates, clients and agents going on holiday.

And for being able to pick their own hours, contractors and senior decision-makers tend not to ramp up their own activity when very warm weather or holidays disturb working patterns.    

The permanent labour market in IT is currently experiencing no such disturbances however. In fact, out of nine other key sectors of the economy, it came top in June in terms of demand.

A long list of IT skills being scarce on a full-time basis is driving the demand, just as it was back in April as then, 19 tech skills were deemed scarce among applicants; the same as today.

They are Automation Testing; C#, CAD, IT Security, Data, DevOps, Digital, Gaming, GDPR, IT, Java, .NET, Oracle Fusion, PHP, ScrumMasters, Software Engineering, Technology, UI/UX Design and Web Development.

The IT contractor market is short of a fair chunk of these too – specifically; Automation Testing, CAD, IT Security, Data, Digital, Gaming, GDPR, IT, Java, Oracle Fusion, Technology and UI/IX Design.

The only IT skill uniquely scarce in the contract market in June was Software Development.