Demand for IT staff grows
Printer friendly
Contract IT staff demand also grew, according to the report by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, based on a survey of 400 UK recruitment consultants.
Kevin Green, chief executive of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, said: 'The labour market is out of intensive care but it is still in a fragile state. While employers are hiring more now than at any other time in the last year, the recovery is tentative and must not be put at risk by taxes or regulatory changes.'
The report uses a figure to represent demand, where anything below 50 indicates a drop on the previous month. In January, the figure for permanent IT staff was 67.7. This was the sixth consecutive month of growth, and was greater than the previous month's figure of 65.7. It was also a significant year on year improvement compared with January 2009, when the figure was 32.2.
The demand for contract IT staff has also increased since December, reaching 58.7. The IT sector had the second strongest growth, after the demand for temporary secretarial and clerical staff.
But although the report suggested that businesses in the private sector are now on the "long road" to recovery, this is not the case for the public sector. "The starting gun for the public sector recession has only just been fired and its impact on the jobs market will be felt over the next 12 to 18 months,' warned Bernard Brown, partner and head of business services at KPMG. "The UK jobs market is continuing its journey back to health. Placements of permanent and temporary jobs have been rising again in January although at a slower pace than a month before, a reminder that the road to recovery will be bumpy.'
- Login or Register to comment
- Add to a social bookmarking site
Editor's Manifesto: Tales of the entirely expected
"Several weeks into the new era of Coaltiion Government and certain key themes are emerging. First up, it's clear that the battle of the 'who can get their memoirs out the door quick enough to steal a march in the revisionist history stakes' has been triumphantly won by M'Lord Mandelson (Weren't those TV ads scary – the velvet smoking jacket, the leather fireside chair, all that Brillcream! The only thing missing was the theme tune to Tales of the Unexpected and the accompanying prancing sillouette of Harriet Harman or Diane Abbott dancing!)” Read more
The Dispatch Box: Data quality and the public sector
Colin Rickard, managing director EMEA at SAS subsidiary Dataflux, argues public sector data must be of high quality if the efficiencies promised with ICT and infrastructure is to be realised.
"Tackling the public sector’s data integration and data quality challenges is a tough prospect. The challenge may require more effort than a comparative project in a large private company. Data must be governed according to a strategy that necessitates bringing interested parties together.” Read more
Innovation: A step too far in the austerity age?
Complete and enter our draw to win a free seat at the e-Government Awards. The public sector is already perceived to be lacking in innovation, but is that a fair assessment, and what role could it play in helping the government meet efficiency targets? What do people working on the frontline of ICT in public sector organisations think? Take part and share your views
James Gardner, CTO at the Department for Work and Pensions discusses his thoughts on innovation in the public and commercial sectors.
Source: K2 Advisory