Growth in IT employment slowing

More jobs than last year but growth slowing

The number of permanent and contract jobs in the IT sector increased over the last 12 months but growth has slowed since the first quarter of 2010, according to the latest report from KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

The number of IT contractors’ jobs also increased over the year, but unlike previous recession-recovery cycles, has followed the same pattern as permanent positions.

"IT employment prospects are certainly better than they were a year ago and we've seen something of a permanent jobs-led recovery," said Dave Pye, director of the REC's technology sector. "But growth is slowing now."

Despite the contraction, Pye said he did not expect the number of IT jobs to continue its decline but to oscilate much a did in the years before the economic crisis and recession.

The report shows a shortage of permanent .Net developers and a shortage of contract CAD operators over the year. Permanent and contract business analysts and general IT staff were also in short supply.

"There will always be opportunities in niche areas such as security, business analysis and programming management," said Pye.

In the overall economy the report shows that the number of people placed in new jobs by recruitment consultancies continued to increase in August, but growth slowed further from March’s peak, recording the slowest increase in permanent appointments since October 2009.

The public sector has been particularly hard hit as cost-reduction programmes lead to recruitment freezes and redundancies.

The report forecasts a “substantial reduction in public-sector headcount” over the coming months.

“That is the painful but inevitable consequence of the coalition government’s determination to tackle the UK’s massive structural deficit,” said Bernard Brown, partner and head of business services at KPMG. “The big question is whether the private sector can create new jobs in sufficient numbers and quickl y enough to offset the downturn in the public sector.”