E-skills says IT workforce numbers are down

But so are unemployment rates and reports of redundancies

There were about 41,000 more "ready" candidates for ICT posts than ICT positions on offer

The IT recovery continued into fourth-quarter 2009, and although overall workforce numbers in the sector were down slightly on the previous quarter, so were unemployment rates and reports of redundancies, according to the latest bulletin from sector skills council e-skills.

The organisation found that the number of ICT professionals working in the UK was down slightly on the third quarter 2009, declining by about 20,000 people to 1,041,000.

The unemployment rate for ICT professionals fell from 5.2 per cent to 4.7 per cent, ending a period of increase spanning three consecutive quarters. The rate for the wider UK workforce remained unchanged at 8.3 per cent.

There were about 41,000 more "ready" candidates for ICT posts in the fourth quarter than ICT positions on offer, meaning there were about 1.5 candidates for each job – an increase on the previous quarter (1.33) but still below the high recorded at the end of 2003 (1.7).

There was an increase in demand for several occupational groups, with permanent openings for software communications engineers, IT/IS directors, project leaders/senior systems analysts, development team leaders and senior database administrator/analysts all rising by 20 per cent on the previous quarter.

Demand for contractors, advertisements for senior systems developers, technical authors and operators rose by more than 10 per cent over the quarter.

There was an increase in the incidence of job-related education and training among ICT staff during the fourth quarter 2009, from 23 to 24 per cent, but this was still below the average for UK workers as a whole.

Investment in IT hardware and software increased for the second consecutive quarter, while overall private sector investment experienced its sixth quarterly fall.