IT staff likely to weather economic storm

NCC report finds small increase in average salary

Employment in IT is holding up

Employment in the IT sector is likely to weather the economic storm this year, although there will be losers in some areas, according to new figures from the National Computing Centre (NCC) released today.

Nearly half of respondents to the NCC's Benchmark of Salaries and Employment Trends in IT 2009 survey said they expect the number of IT staff employed at their location to increase over the next two years - the same response as last year.

Expected growth for systems and support staff is likely to be up a couple of percentage points from last year to 10.2 per cent. But only 25 per cent of respondents from transport, utilities and communications, and 32.7 per cent from the manufacturing sector, predicted growth in IT posts.

A third of respondents had problems recruiting specific skills, with experience in Oracle, SAP, .Net, web development, business analysis and network support all in high demand.

Average salary increases were 3.4 per cent, just 0.4 per cent higher than the 3.0 per cent reported in 2007.

"The current economic gloom will create new winners and losers, but 2009 will also be a year of transition," said NCC research manager Christine Jack.

"Outsourced software and desktop services are maturing and will become a more financially attractive alternative for cash-strapped companies. The IT services sector is making plans now to staff up and to meet the demand."