Growth in IT contractor demand rebounded in July

Relative softness in the growth of demand for IT contractors in June must have been a blip, as appetite for their skills last month surged to its second highest level so far this year.

Published this morning, the monthly Report on Jobs by the REC shows IT contractor demand in July was 61.5, up from 59.7 in the previous report and just shy of May’s peak of 61.8.

Many businesses “positively revising their hiring plans” in relation to temporary workers was observed in July, according to REC’s head of policy Sophie Wingfield.

She added that the weather had played a part in a general upswing for temps, but for IT contractors, summer’s onset often acts as a starting pistol for holidays to be taken, and hiring decisions to be delayed.

Appearing almost as stubborn as the high temperatures of late is the list of IT skills which hirers are finding difficult to source on a contract or temporary basis.

In fact, almost all of what was scarce in July; CAD, Cyber Security, Data, DevOps, Digital, Gaming, IT Security, Java, Software Development, General Technology and UI/UX, was scarce back in April.

Revit is the newest sought-after skill among IT contractors, who will be eying what end-users are struggling to find among full-time applicants just in case they give up and opt for a temporary fix.

Those hard-to-find permanent IT skills are increasing in number too (from 19 to 23), and they include Cisco, Cloud Technologies, IT Architecture, Net, Network Engineering, PHP, ScrumMasters and Python.