Demand for IT contractors within the public sector continued to rise between December 2004 and April 2005, according to online IT recruitment specialists CWJobs.co.uk. The CWJobs/SSL quarterly IT skills index reveals that IT contractor personnel increased by 13% in Q1, 2005, and has increased by a staggering 200% since Q1 2004.
The figures continue to demonstrate the growth of IT vacancies within the public sector. From January to December 2004, the public sector posted an increase of 135% in public sector vacancies, only a mere 5% behind the lucrative and IT-rich financial sector. The most sought after skills for permanent public sector staff include SQL, OFFICE, Java and C with contractors wanted for their abilities in OFFICE, SQL, Oracle and Unix.
However, the results for permanent positions did not reflect the contractor growth. A small decrease of 0.5% on Q4 figures was witnessed but these numbers are still better than other industries such as Communications (-8.5%), Software Houses (-4.10%) and Manufacturing (-19.3%).
Commenting on the statistics, Richard Nott, Sales Director at CW Jobs said:
Since 2004 we have witnessed a continual investment in e-government initiatives aimed at improving efficiency at all levels within the public sector and the results are beginning to show particularly in the rise of contractor positions. However, we have also witnessed several reports claiming that there is still much work to be done in order to improve IT and, as a result, we feel that the numbers will continue to increase throughout 2005 and beyond.
Demand for IT contractors continues to increase in 2005
IT jobs market demonstrates growth according to new CWJobs/SSL stats
