The silicon.com Skills Survey 2004: Things have only got better

Life is getting better for those working in UK IT. It may sound like a gross over-generalisation but it's the top-level finding following the close of this year's Skills Survey conducted by silicon.com.

Our annual reader snapshot has shown demand for specific skills on the up, a slight increase in salaries, fewer respondents working long hours and an expressed desire - the first in a long time - to move back into contracting.

In our 2003 survey, only Linux programming skills showed any growth compared with our corresponding figures from 12 months earlier. This time, there was growth across the board, notably in 'IT management (systems, storage, network)', up 3.2 percentage points year-on-year and 'Networking/messaging', up 2.8 points. Database skills were the only area to see a decrease, mentioned by 13.3 per cent of respondents, down from 14.8 per cent in 2003 and 16.2 per cent in 2002.

While this year's research recorded little or no change in IT 'super-earners' - those in the £70,001 to £110,00 bracket (down 0.1 percentage points) and those earning over £110,001 (steady at 3.4 per cent) - there were increases at the mid-level. There were 20.9 per cent who told us they are in the £40,001 to £55,000 range - up 0.2 percentage points on a year ago - and 12.1 per cent earning between £55,001 and £70,000, up 1.3 points.

The £25,001 to £40,000 band saw a decrease of 2.2 percentage points, falling to 32.8 per cent of our sample. This is most likely because of a general move up the pay scale, coupled with a rise in those earning less than £25,000, though by just 0.6 points to 22.3 per cent.

The latter category may also be related to our figure for unemployment in IT, which hit 5.7 per cent of our sample. That's 3.8 points more, which equates to a whopping tripling of joblessness compared to 2003.

Of those still working - and IT does remain a profession with many options - this year saw a rise in those working fewer than 35 hours a week (though this may include some of those who now consider themselves unemployed) at 6.5 per cent, up from 5.1 per cent previously. Those in the 35 hours to 40 hours per week bracket also rose - up to 36.7 per cent from 34.1 per cent.

There were decreases in all other working-hours brackets, thankfully including the top echelon, where 14.8 per cent of respondents now report working more than 50 hours per week, down from 16.1 a year ago.

And perhaps the ultimate sign of a recovering sector was also apparent this year - a gradual move back towards contracting. While 'permanent employee' status is still desirable - 63 per cent told us that's what they are and that's what they want to remain - that number of what we've traditionally called 'happy permies' was down 6.0 percentage points.

Meanwhile, those who told us that 'I am a permanent employee and want to become a contractor' were up 1.6 points at 7.9 - a 25 per cent increase.

But it's not all good news this year. While headline figures look promising, there is still a desire for more and better training. And while more readers told us they recognise hiring staff from overseas is a tactic for solving short-term skills gaps, we also heard for the first time that about 35 per cent feel offshoring is a threat to their current position.

Ageism was also mentioned by significant numbers. These issues - and a deeper analysis of the headline figures - will be investigated by silicon.com during the coming weeks.

This year's Skills Survey was conducted in February, March and April this year and polled 1,322 readers, as well as several hundred readers of our sister publications in Germany and France.

Full results and bespoke cuts of the survey are available to purchase from sales@silicon.com. Please send any other feedback to editorial@silicon.com or post a Reader Comment below.