IT recruitment slides again with only technicians in demand
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation's latest report on jobs shows that permanent and contracting markets within the IT sector remain in decline, with only technicians in demand in the contracting field.
The report found that demand for permanent IT staff fell for the second month running over June, with the sharpest rates of contraction in demand since the report began, four years ago. Meanwhile, growth of billings received by consultancies from contract staff also weakened, increasing at the weakest rate in the current period of expansion, which began in March 1999.
Weekly billings from contract staff in general rose for the 28th month running in June. Nevertheless, the pace of growth across all sectors eased to the slowest rates since billings began to rise in March 1999 with the exception of demand for temporary IT staff, which again contracted sharply last month.
Both ranking eighth out of eight other sectors, demand for permanent staff in IT was at 38.7 per cent compared to 68.5 per cent this time last year - demand for IT contractors was at 40.9 per cent compared to the previous year's 56.9 per cent, shrinking for the fourth consecutive month.
The report lists key skills currently in demand in IT as: Java, Ingress Programmers and Software Engineers in the permanent sector, with only Technicians in short supply in the contracting sector.
Speaking at an Association of Technology Staffing Companies (ATSCo) meeting last month, Shaun Open, Head of Corporate Marketing at Microsoft UK, predicted some short-term pain but extremely exciting developments within the next two years with a 30 per cent increase in the proportion of IT-related jobs by 2003.
Mr Open suggested that Europe will weather the storm better than the USA.
"There are more indigenous European companies than there have been for some time, so Europe is less affected by what goes on in the States than in the past, particularly as the general mood here is more bullish. Technology is progressing faster in Europe, with countries such as Sweden leading the way in certain technologies, and the mobile infrastructure is further ahead," he said.
Ann Swain, ATSCo's Chief Executive commented: "In order for the recruitment industry to service the needs of its client base we need more qualified, experienced IT professionals to fill these vacancies."
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Richard Powell, UKTECH