Confidence amongst IT contractors over their job prospects in financial services has surged over the last 12 months as banks continue to ramp up IT investment post-credit crunch, reveals new research by giant group plc, the contractor services provider.
36.7% of IT contractors think the financial services sector will create the most IT jobs over the next 12 months, up from 22% this time last year.
At the same time, confidence in the public sector to create IT jobs has slumped to an all-time low. Just 4.5% of IT contractors expect the public sector to create the most IT jobs in 2011, down from 24.7% in Q4 2009.
Matthew Brown, Managing Director of giant, comments: “The private sector recovery is well and truly underway. The banking sector in particular is growing at the fastest rate since before the financial crisis and those same team leaders who were told to let contractors go at the start of the recession are being instructed to start hiring again.”
“The big commercial banks are in a much better state than they were last year and many are beginning to kick-start projects that stalled during the recession. Investment banks are also back in rude health after their near death experience, although recent results suggest the sector is not yet consistently firing on all cylinders.”
He adds: “The financial services sector is facing intense regulatory pressure to make transactions more transparent and improve risk monitoring, which is spurring a huge investment in IT. Banks and fund managers are preparing their systems for the Basel III and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive respectively while insurers are ramping up IT investment ahead of the implementation of Solvency II regulations.”
According to giant, long term joblessness amongst IT contractors (without work for 90 days or more) dropped significantly this year. According to giant group, just 6.5% of IT contractors have been out of work for 90 days or more, compared to over 10% last year.
Matthew Brown comments: “As the economic recovery gathers pace we should see the number of contractors out of work for extended periods fall quite dramatically. Just over 5% of IT contractors were classed as long term jobless before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, so we are not back to pre-credit crunch levels just yet, but getting closer.”
Public sector opportunities will be scarce
According to giant, confidence in the public sector has collapsed since the Comprehensive Spending Review. Just 4.5% of IT contractors expect the most job opportunities to come from the public sector, compared to nearly a quarter (24.7%) last year.
Matthew Brown comments: “With the public sector facing large-scale redundancies, there will be little room for additional spend on temporary staff over the next year. A lot of projects that would have created opportunities for contractors are either being put on hold or axed altogether.”
“While the outlook for contractors in the public sector may look bleak now, the public sector will remain under intense pressure to keep permanent headcounts down for some time. In the medium term, this could create opportunities for contractors who may benefit when the public sector experiences short-term spikes in project work.”
He adds: “With talk of government departments and local authorities amalgamating there is a strong possibility that there will be significant demand for IT contractors in the public sector with experience of handling large scale system integration projects.”
