Demand for public sector IT workers continues to increase

Demand for IT contractors within the public sector continued to rise between April 2004 and July 2005, according to online IT recruitment specialists CWJobs.co.uk.



The latest CWJobs/SSL quarterly IT skills index reveals that permanent IT positions increased by 11 per cent in Q2 2005, this follows a 13 per cent increase in Q1 2005. The number of positions advertised for contract staff also increased by 4 per cent, however this rise is minimal compared to the previous rise of 13 per cent in Q1.

Employers view SQL, OFFICE, ORACLE and UNIX as the most desirable skills for permanent staff in the public sector, while PERL, SAP, STRUCMETHODS and MFC proved to be the least popular. Meanwhile OFFICE, ORACLE, PRINCE and ACCESS are the most popular skills for contractors in the public sector with WINDOWS, LOADRUNNER, CITRIX and JSRIPT the least desirable.

The largest salary increases for permanent staff between Q2 2004 and Q2 2005 were seen for Management/System Consultants, with a year on year increase of 51 per cent, followed by Communications/Network Managers ( 24.4 per cent), Technical Pre-Post Sales Support ( 23.3 per cent), Senior Network Communications Analysts ( 22.2 per cent) and Programmers ( 22.7 per cent).

Contractorís experience the highest salaries as Training Officers/Lecturers which saw a year on year rise of 86.7 per cent followed by Technical Pre-Post Sales Support ( 75.0 per cent), Business Analysts ( 18.2 per cent) and Project Managers ( 17.9 per cent).

Commenting on the statistics, Richard Nott, Sales Director at CWJobs.co.uk said:

The public sector is experiencing a boom in permanent IT positions, however demand for contractors is slowing which could be the result of outsourcing. We predict that Q3 will see further rises in permanent positions, and although any growth for contractor positions may be smaller than previously experienced, there will still be a healthy demand.