IT job market shrinks in London

IT vacancies in London have shrunk owing to the financial services instability

The number of IT vacancies in London and the South East has decreased by eight percentage points as the credit crunch leads to a recruitment slowdown in financial services, according to research.

The number of new technology jobs in the region has fallen from its peak of 65.5 per cent of all IT vacancies in 2006 to 57.6 per cent in 2008 as the recession has "disproportionately harmed" IT job creation in the areas where the financial services industry is concentrated, says the study carried out by IT staffing company ReThink Recruitment.

But compliance and risk management will boost IT staff numbers and sector consolidation should attract IT specialists to integrate disparate systems, says the study.

"Central government departments in London have become major users of IT skills since the last downturn, which should provide some ballast to the jobs market. Any cutbacks by the public sector are unlikely to be as deep or as aggressive as in the private sector," it says.

But some regions in the UK remain relatively unaffected when it comes to the creation of technology jobs.

The survey revealed that the North West increased its share of the IT jobs market from 6.6 per cent to 9.2 per cent between 2006 and 2008, while the West Midlands saw an increase from five per cent to 6.7 per cent of total vacancies, and the South West's IT jobs were boosted from 5.3 per cent to 7.2 per cent during the period.