IT Industry Hits New Climax With IT Vacancies At Highest Since December 2002

The IT recruitment industry is the strongest itís been since Q4 2002 according to the latest statistics from online recruitment specialists CWJobs.co.uk. The CWJobs/SSL quarterly IT skills index shows that the number of both permanent and contract vacancies has steadily increased across the country since January 2003, with more dramatic growth in the last six months. In the last quarter alone, permanent IT vacancies rose by 11% and contract jobs by 17%.

Key findings include:

Inner London, Outer London and the East Midlands have all seen an 11% increase in permanent IT vacancies
Inner London has experienced the highest annual growth with permanent vacancies up by 55% and contractor jobs by 86% since Q2 2003

West & Wales is the only region to not see an increase in permanent IT vacancies with a 1% decrease in advertised vacancies

The West Midlands was the only region to lose momentum in advertised contractor vacancies with a fall off 1%
The North East has witnessed the biggest increase in terms of both permanent and contractor IT vacancies with a 19% increase in permanent and 45% increase in contractor vacancies

IT recruitment as a whole continued to witness a dramatic increase in both permanent and contractor advertised vacancies during the last quarter. The total number of permanent IT vacancies advertised between April and June 2004 was 68,285. This is an 11% increase on Q1 2004 and 30% more than the same period last year. 95% of these positions were advertised online. In terms of demand, the North East saw the biggest increase in permanent advertised vacancies at 19%, followed by the West Midlands at 14% and Southern England with 13%.

The North East also saw the biggest increase in demand for IT contractors between April and June 2004 with a 45% rise in vacancies, followed by Southern England with 24%. The only region to experience a decrease in vacancies was the West Midlands, with a 1% drop. Overall, contractor vacancies continued to rise with an increase of 31% since Q2 2003.

From an industry point of view, the Electronics/Communications sector has witnessed the greatest increase in permanent vacancies with a 31% hike between April and June 2004, followed closely by the Public Sector with an 18% rise and Retail/Distribution with a 12% increase. In terms of contractor vacancies, Software Houses/Consultancies saw the biggest increase at 24% followed by Electronics/Communications at 23% and Media with a 21% increase in vacancies.

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