IT contractor market showing signs of life

The IT jobs sector remains "unsettled" but there is a gradual re-emergence of demand for contract staff and those with specialist skills and experience, according to the latest quarterly bulletin from eSkills UK.

The report, which collates a variety of government, industry and stock market figures and statistics, initially paints a gloomy picture with private sector hardware and software investment falling for the third consecutive quarter, along with the UK trade balance in IT services.

But businesses are optimistic about future sales and employment prospects and the FTSE indices for ecommerce, computer services and telecoms equipment rose by 29 per cent, 25 per cent and six per cent respectively over the third quarter of 2003.

The job stats also made for more healthy reading. The number of people employed in IT positions increased by 21,000, with the unemployment rate remaining at 4.8 per cent. The number of vacancies for contract staff increased by four per cent, while contract rates increased by £3 per hour.

Recruitment agencies reported growing demand for permanent and contract IT staff and the number of IT vacancies advertised at job centres increased to 3,500.

Figures on IT job adverts that remained open for longer than four weeks - an indication of a skills shortage for that role - showed that in-demand skills include management and systems consultants, software engineers and systems testing and auditing.

Peter Honsone, market analyst at eSkills UK, told silicon.com that the general trend appears to be upwards despite some uncertainties in the market.

"The contract position does seem to be on an upward trend and hopefully the permanent picture will follow that, although it is still a difficult market for permanent staff," he said. "There are many skilled and experienced people out there - it is still a buyer's market." The IT jobs sector remains "unsettled" but there is a gradual re-emergence of demand for contract staff and those with specialist skills and experience, according to the latest quarterly bulletin from eSkills UK.

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