The first signs of a tentative recovery in the IT jobs market
emerged this week, with new research by The Skills Market showing
that salaries for IT staff with key skills are beginning to
rise.
After a year of savage cutbacks, the salaries paid by employers for
temporary and permanent staff with C++, Java, SQL Server, Visual
Basic and Unix skills have shown a significant increase over the
past three months.
The upturn, revealed in a survey of 6,000 IT staff, is the first
sign of optimism in the market since the downturn began in 2001.
However, it is still too early to say whether the end of 2002 marks
the beginning of a sustained recovery or is just a temporary
reprieve in a longer-term downward trend.
"Sentiment is still fragile and nobody wants to forecast a false
dawn," said Ann Swain, chief executive at the Association of
Technology Staffing Companies. "But these results, along with the
recent recovery in the share value of recruitment companies, may
indicate the first tentative signs of a recovery in confidence
following the recent economic slowdown."
Rates for temporary and permanent IT staff have fallen steadily
this year, the research showed, with average salaries for IT staff
dropping by £10,000 and contractor rates falling by 20%.
But since September, salaries for permanent staff with the most
sought-after skills have risen by 10% and contractor rates for the
top-skills have gone up by an average of £5 an hour.
Telecoms, finance and energy are among the highest-paying sectors.
Government and electronics are among the lowest-paying areas, the
research revealed.
"Over the past few months we have had reports of pockets of
recovery in most of the major skill areas due to companies starting
projects that had been put on hold," said Alex Charles, director of
The Skills Market.
The results of other recent research paint a confusing picture.
Ovum Holloway and AMR Research predict zero growth next year, while
Computer Weekly/Kew Associates predict a rise of 10% in IT
spending.
"The market was so thin, it could not keep going down because there
was nothing left. Some kind of recovery was absolutely essential.
It would be very good if it was sustained," said Philip Virgo,
strategic advisor to the Institute for the Management of
Information systems.