Number of IT vacancies keeps falling - but the worst may be over

Fewer IT jobs are being advertised

The rate of decline in the demand for IT professionals has eased, but the number of jobs available is continuing to fall faster than in any of the past five years, according to research.

The latest monthly Report on Jobs from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG shows that the index of demand for IT staff in May was down 25 per cent from April, although the speed at which the job market is contracting has eased since its peak in February when it fell 40 per cent per month – a six-year low. But job openings are still shrinking faster than at any rate pre-2009.

Across the whole UK recruitment market, the number of vacancies continues to fall, although IT is reflecting the wider trend with the declines slowing. Only the nursing, medical and healthcare sector showed an increase in demand – for the 12th month running.

Permanent IT vacancies have an index ranking of 37.3 in the study – a rank of 50 means no change, greater than 50 is an increase in demand, and below that figure represents a fall. Twelve months before the February survey, IT's ranking was 51.

Despite its decline, the IT sector is holding up better than most – it is falling more slowly than any other segment outside healthcare.

Not surprisingly, the REC/KPMG survey also showed that “staff availability” – the number of people looking for jobs – rose significantly.

The most in-demand IT skills are for .Net, Sharepoint, PHP, business intelligence and “general IT”.

“This month’s Report on Jobs shows that vacancies and appointments continue to decline, however there are some signs of recovery,” said REC chief executive Kevin Green.

“For example, 60 per cent of recruiters reported either a stable or increased demand for temporary staff in May.

Mike Stevens, partner and head of business services at KPMG, said there is cause to hope the UK jobs market is over the worst.

“For the third successive month we have seen a slowing in the rate of decline in both temporary and permanent staff appointments,” he said.

“Demand for staff is still falling but much less fast than at the beginning of the year and many employers seem to be holding off shedding staff and contemplating recruitment.”