REC survey shows growth in contract market

The latest survey by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) shows a rapid recovery in the contract IT market after 6 months of decline. The decline has been blamed on several factors, notably Y2K. The recovery is due to the rapid growth in e-commerce, especially in the business to business area.

According to the survey, the market for contract IT services has increased by 17% since Christmas, and 4% in the month to March. However, the IT contract market is bottom of a league of 8 temporary staff sectors. The survey hides huge discrepancies in the market place, with those who can offer e-commerce skills most in demand. Web programmers, Java programmers and Unix and C++ programmers have the most sought after skills, and can find work opportunities at attractive rates. Whereas those contractors with less in demand skills need to retrain to find work.

The good news is that with a shortage of expertise, contractors, clients and even some agents are being forced to address the issue of training to meet the demand. Clients are no longer being so demanding in the level of experience required before they offer an opportunity, and are offering training themselves to get contractors up to speed in a particular area to keep the project on track. The rapid growth is expected to continue.

No mention is made of IR35 as a reason for employers having difficulty in finding sufficiently skilled contractors, but the demand for permanent staff has also increased.