Demand for IT staff falling

Financial services' IT spending remains flat as credit crunch bites hard

Demand for IT staff has not increased since last month

Demand for temporary and permanent IT staff is falling as the financial crisis begins to have a domino effect on other sectors.

Demand for permanent staff has sunk to its lowest level since mid-2003, while demand for temporary staff is at its lowest since the begininng of 2004, according to a report from KPMG.

Fears are growing that jitters in the city will continue to hamper IT spending, said Alan Nolan, director at KPMG.

“The banking crisis is clearly taking its toll as IT and computing are among the sectors where demand for both permanent and temporary staff is weakest," he said.

Financial services are by far the biggest spenders on IT in the UK, and a report from the CBI last month predicted that financial services' spending on IT would remain flat over 2008

The KPMG report showed that IT had the second lowest increase in demand for staff in all sectors, just above blue collar workers.