General Long term Erosion of Contract market

[d000hg]

Where in the UK are you d000hg? nearest city?

Durham. If it weren't for the Japanese branch of the university I think the only coloured people I'd see would be running takeaways, except that we have quite a collection of nationalities represented in my church (no idea why).

So you live in a 'white' town but your complaining about posters who don't like living in multi-culti places?

You equate colour with culture?

[escapeUK]

Durham. If it weren't for the Japanese branch of the university I think the only coloured people I'd see would be running takeaways, except that we have quite a collection of nationalities represented in my church (no idea why).

Sounds idyllic, I envy you.

[achilles]

Regardless of boom and bust cycles the general trend of IT contractor rates seems to have been downward over the last decade. I have never got the rate that was offered in 2005 over boom and bust cycles even though I feel I am much more qualified since then.

I would even go further and say that rates peaked in year 2000 and gradually coming down since. Not only that, the bench time between contracts seem to widen.

But even so, you can still earn a good income if you are able to secure contracts at top-end market rates.

[contractorcontractor]

Blame Labour policies

blame it on 13 years of Labour. They have done their very best to make the british worker uncompetitive.

Minimum wages, maximum hours, Health & Safety, faux equality laws, litigious friendly employment laws, open door immigration...

The Health & Safety industry is a huge burden on companies. The cost drains income and hinders productivity.

We have all seen in the news, the service women smiling because they won hundreds of thousands of pounds in compo for a sprained finger. That compo money comes from somewhere and it means some will lose their jobs.

Open door immigration and a couple of 100,000s of foreign IT workers joining the market. Supply goes up and the price goes down. Simples!

I read somewhere that prawns caught off Scotland are shipped off to the far east for shelling because it is cheaper than using scottish workers.

And then there is IR35...could it possibly have been introduced to make contractors more expensive? Who could possibly gain from that? Unionised permies?? How could permies in a union object to a contractor? As the unions provide the bulk funding for the Labour party, is there a connection? Surely not.

I have met quite a few Labour voting contractors. Fools & hypocrites each and every one of them.