IT workers - back in demand again
Demand for permanent IT staff rose to a six-month high last month, survey finds...
Demand for permanent IT staff rose to a six-month high last month, according to the latest recruitment survey conducted by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and professional services firm KPMG.
Although demand for IT pros remains slightly down on the same period a year ago, the jobs survey for December found IT and computing workers were in the greatest demand last month out of eight permanent job types monitored by the survey - outpacing demand for executive/professional, engineering/construction and accounting/financial.
The survey uses a points system in which 50 indicates there has been no change in the number of job vacancies posted, and more than 50 indicates an increase in postings. IT and computing scored 60.5 points last December, versus 63.6 points in December 2009.
According to the REC/KPMG survey, the IT and computing skill reported to be in shortest supply by employers seeking permanent staff was 'Net developers', while employers seeking temporary IT staff said 'Net developers' and 'Java developers' were proving harder to locate last month.
The jobs survey for December also showed month-on-month growth in demand for temporary and contract IT workers at the end of last year, although demand was slightly down on the year-ago period - 56.6 points last month versus 58.1 points in December 2009.
Jobs website Monster also reported strong growth for online IT vacancies in its December Employment Index, with London offering large concentrations of tech jobs.
IT recorded 26 per cent growth, year-on-year, according to the Index - second only to transport, post and logistics (41 per cent y-o-y growth).
IT's month-on-month growth was seven per cent, the Index found, putting IT fifth in the list of top sectors for growth in online job postings - behind arts, marketing, transport and education.
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