The latest quarterly survey of IT jobs and salaries shows a
second consecutive quarter of growth in the jobs market. These
signs point to a continued recovery, writes Nicholas
Enticknap.
The slow rise out of recession is continuing, according to the
latest issue of the SSL/Computer Weekly Quarterly Survey of
Appointments, Data and Trends. Jobs advertised in magazines, which
reflect recruitment activity in IT sites most reliably, were well
up compared with a year ago, for the second consecutive quarter
following five solid years of decline.
IT jobs advertised on the web fell by just 5% over the last quarter
of 2003, the smallest decline for more than three years. The
contractor market is leading the recovery, with an increase in jobs
of 25%. There was an increase in advertising for all types of
contractor except software engineers, where demand fell by well
over 33%. Demand for this type of professional was down by almost
as much in the full-time market.
The overall improvement, though welcome, is small. Jobs in
magazines are still less than 17% of the total registered as
recently as the fourth quarter of 2000, and jobs on the web are
well under 25%.
Cathy Walsh, managing director of recruitment agency Triangle,
concedes that recovery still has a long way to go. "It was not a
great quarter, but you can see the trend. For both permanent and
contract staff, things are much more positive."
Paul Smith, group marketing director at Harvey Nash, has moved from
the position of cautious optimism he expressed about the first
signs of recovery last autumn. "We are much more vocal now in our
confidence."
He goes on, "We are seeing much more activity, especially from 1
January, when people got their budgets and headcount allocations.
There is more activity from employers and, as a result, more from
candidates." But he adds, "I would caution that we do not expect a
return to the growth of 1999 to 2000. We see a slow, mature growth
in the market."
A notable feature of the last quarter was the increase in jobs
offered by the software industry, which was above the market
average in all areas. On the web, software houses accounted for 42%
of all full-time jobs offered, and twice as much was invested in
magazines than a year ago. Software house advertising was at its
highest level for more than two years.
Software houses also increased their demand for contract staff by
33% over the quarter. As a result, there was a large increase in
demand for consultants. Job offers on the web were treble the
number of a year ago, while in magazines they increased
six-fold.
Demand for systems staff was also up everywhere, a trend that was
also apparent in the last survey. There were more contractor jobs
offered to systems professionals than to any other category in the
fourth quarter, nearly a third of the total.
It may be that development work will follow this renewed systems
activity. Advertisements for developers increased in magazines and
on the web. Demand for programmers fell on the web, but this is
probably a sign of changing job labels rather because of a shift in
demand.
Regionally, London showed up best, with jobs on offer both in the
City and in the suburbs rising from a year ago. The only other area
to show a rise was the East Midlands. North-west England, Wales,
the West and Scotland all remained mired in recession, with jobs
down by about 25% on a year ago in each case. In Scotland in
particular, 2003 was a year to forget, with jobs falling more than
in any other region in all four quarters of the year.
The recovery in recruitment activity has not yet resulted in a
growth in salaries - it is still a buyer's market. Salaries offered
to full-time consultants were an average of 9% down on a year ago,
although they were slightly up on the third quarter of 2003.
One group of professionals who will be happier than most are IT
directors. In the third quarter there was a sudden, alarming dip in
the average salary offered to £72,000, but this appears to have
been a statistical glitch, and in the fourth quarter the figure
rose back to a more typical £87,000.
The average annual rise in salary across all permanent job titles
in the last quarter was just 0.7% - the lowest figure recorded in
2003 - and well under the rate of inflation however it is measured
(in November the official retail price index figure was 2.5%).
Developers bucked this trend - the average rise for them was
typically in the 4% to 5% range. For business analysts and PC
support professionals the trend was upwards.
For contractors, the picture was uniformly rosier: the average rate
was up 1.6%, which is the first time since the recession started
that rates have risen. Rates for developers were, on average, up by
8%; for analyst/programmers 6%; and the average rate of increase
across all systems posts was 7%.
Sought-after expertise is largely in new-wave 21st century
software. Among the 25 skills most in demand on the web, 10
featured in more advertisements than a year ago, but only one of
these, Sybase, could be regarded as traditional.
New Microsoft development techniques are rapidly becoming
established as the norm, and two of these showed the biggest growth
over the quarter. The C# programming language appeared in more than
double the number of adverts than a year ago and has entered the
top 20 for the first time, and .net appeared in half as many ads
again and is up nine places on a year ago.
The other skill to show a big increase was Linux, which appeared in
40% more adverts and rose nine places up the table as a result.
This appears to show growing enthusiasm for open source, as Unix,
Solaris and HP-UX all featured in fewer adverts than a year ago and
AIX was only just up.
The growth in demand for Sybase, which measures 17%, is a sign of
vigorous activity in the financial sector, which accounts for
nearly two thirds of all Sybase jobs. This sector was one of just
three which increased its advertising on the web during the quarter
(the others were software houses and the public sector).
The weakest sector during the quarter was
electronics/communications, which reduced its advertising on the
web by a quarter. Demand for networking staff from all employers
was down by much more than the average. As a result, demand for
comms skills generally fell.
TCP/IP was down two places to 12, Cisco fell five places, Lan six,
Wan seven, VPN three and ISDN a whole 20 places. Ethernet is in its
lowest ever position at 106, as is frame relay at 123.Expertise in
embedded programming is also much less popular than a year ago,
featuring in fewer than half the number of adverts. Comms companies
have been the biggest recruiters of embedded programming
professionals, and accounted for nearly one third of such jobs this
time.
At the top of the table, there was little change. SQL and Unix were
in first and second places in the quarterly skills league table, as
they were throughout 2003. Among user organisations only, Unix was
the skill most in demand, rising from third place last time,
probably as a result of the increase in recruitment in the finance
sector, where Unix is particularly strong. Finance companies
account for nearly one third of all Unix demand, though they
recruit less than a fifth of all staff.
About the survey
This article is based on information contained in the
SSL/Computer Weekly Quarterly Survey of Appointments Data and
Trends. The survey analyses advertisements for IT professionals on
the web, in the trade press and the quality national daily and
Sunday newspapers.
The posts advertised are broken down into 55 job categories;
within each it provides details of the number of posts advertised
and the average and median national salaries offered for the last
quarter and for each of the previous four.
The survey provides further analyses within each job category by
platform type, industry sector and region. It also provides a
breakdown for the job categories of the technical skills most in
demand. In each analysis, it details the average salary on offer
for each of the past five quarters.
The price of a single issue of the survey is £250. An annual
subscription costs £350 and includes four issues and a free copy of
a Windows-based CD which allows for selection by region, industry
and software skills.
www.salaryservices.co.uk