Recession? What recession? Contractors' salaries jump again

IT contractors' salaries have risen sharply in the last year despite many such workers claiming they're experiencing the worst downturn in years.

In one of the most surprising findings of silicon.com's annual Skills Survey, nearly half of all contractors claim they're now taking home more than £55,000 a year.

In 2001 just one in five were making that amount.

The findings come in a year in which both permanent and contract staff have been hit by redundancies and cost-cutting across the industry.

Some large companies, including BT and IBM, have reduced rates to their IT contractors by as much as 10 per cent.

However, it seems that for most of the highly skilled contractors still in work, the money they're taking in has increased. In addition, the survey also found that permanent staff were much more likely to want to become contractors than the other way round.

Out of those respondents who said they worked as a contractor, 49 per cent claimed to earn over £55,000. A third earned more than £70,000.

Permanent staff came off comparitively unfavourably, despite the cut-backs this year seen in contract staff.

Just 12 per cent earn more than £55,000, down from 20 per cent last year, and just three per cent make more than £70,000.

The vast majority of permanent staff - two thirds - earn under £40,000.

The results have surprised experts, especially given the weight of anecdotal evidence suggesting the market for contract staff has been very poor in the last year.

Susie Hughes, spokeswoman for the Professional Contractors Group, which represents UK IT contract staff, said: "This runs against much of what we are seeing, where we currently estimate a third of contractors are currently looking for work."

silicon.com's survey garnered responses from almost 5,000 IT staff in the UK. Thirteen per cent of respondents described themselves as contractors.