IT skills shortage hits 10-year high

The IT sector is suffering its worst shortage of skills for a decade, according to new figures.

Perceived shortages in the industry jumped from 4.2 per cent last year to 6.8 per cent this year, the national survey of IT salaries and employment trends found.

Just under 40 per cent of respondents indicated recruitment and retention issues, a significant increase on the 29 per cent reported last year.

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The report warns employers to budget for increased training, with 73 per cent of those who said there was a need for new skills planning to get hold of them by re-skilling and training existing staff.

It predicts that those workers with business analysis, network support, .NET Oracle, SAP, VMware, web development and project management skills will be in high demand over the next two years.

Salary growth in the sector remains stable, with respondents reporting an average wage increase of 3.7 per cent.

The number of performance related bonuses are on the increase, up from six to 44 per cent, with the value of those bonuses rising from 7.5 per cent to 8.3 per cent.

The annual poll of 244 organisations, which provides salary and employment details for 5,493 IT staff, was undertaken by the National Computing Centre.