Salaries for IT workers are falling, with few IT vacancies and
high unemployment levels making it an employer's market.
According to
research from KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment
Confederation, demand for IT workers fell significantly in
March compared to February, with job vacancies at the lowest level
in the survey's 11-year history.
The same survey last year recorded an increase in demand for
this period.
"For the third consecutive month, recruitment consultants
reported declines in permanent and temporary staff pay during
December. Anecdotal evidence suggested that rapidly rising levels
of staff availability had diluted candidates' bargaining power,"
said the survey report.
But IT is not the only sector where jobs declined, with
Nursing/Medical/Care the only sector to record an increase in
demand compared to February.
The finance sector, which is the biggest recruiter of IT
workers, demonstrates the downward trend in IT job opportunities.
With business volumes falling and troubled financial services firms
cutting costs IT staff are being axed en masse.
RBS this week announced it was cutting 4,500 UK jobs in its
manufacturing unit, which includes IT. Barclays and HSBC have also
announced major cuts recently with the back-office workers being
hit hard by job reductions.
But banks are not alone and there has been a recent
spate of IT job cuts at major insurance firms.