Pay rates for IT professionals stabilised last year after seven
months of fluctuating growth, the latest iProfile/Atsco quarterly
skills survey has revealed.
The average salary for permanent staff rose to £34,375,
and average rates for contractors remained steady at £40 an hour,
according to the survey of 5,000 IT professionals.
“Permanent IT staff have seen a marginal increase in pay rates
over the past year and are now earning 7% more than they were at
the start of 2002,” said Ann Swain, chief executive of the
Association of Technology Staffing Companies (Atsco).
Employment prospects still appear to be good, with the
proportion of IT staff out of work running at 9% – unemployment
rates of 12% were reported in the final quarter of 2004.
Recruitment agencies said that although pay rates remained
relatively level during 2005, demand for business analysts, system
testers and project managers was increasing.
Demand for developers with skills in Java, .net and networking
skills such as Cisco, were particularly strong, said recruitment
firm Spring Group.
“We saw a definite increase in employer confidence in the past
year which resulted in a marked uplift in the demand for many IT
skills across both the permanent and contract sectors,” said
Stephanie Elliot, managing director of staffing firm Volt
Europe.
Atsco predicted that the jobs market would continue to grow at a
similar rate in 2006, with skills such as Java, C# and .net being
heavily in demand.
Rising demand will mean that employers will have to pay higher
salaries and be prepared to cross-train candidates with business
knowledge who may lack the exact technical skills, said Elliot.