IT staff most sought-after in December

Demand reflects increasing reliance on IT to drive the business

Businesses are back on the hunt for IT workers

Demand for permanent IT and computing staff was the highest for eight major employment categories in December, according a monthly Recruitment Industry Survey from Markit Economics sponsored by KPMG.

Temporary and contract IT and computing staff were also in high demand, making it the second most sought-after category, with secretarial and clerical being highest.

Using diffusion indices to present data – where a reading of 50 indicates no change on the previous month, above 50 shows stronger demand, and below 50 shows weaker demand – permanent IT vacancies were at 65.7 in December 2009 compared with 32.8 in December 2008.

In December last year, the sector was second and third most sought after for permanent and temporary staff respectively.

Tudor Aw, technology sector head for KPMG said: "demand for IT staff across the permanent and temporary sector reflects our increasing reliance on technology to drive businesses."

He also said that an increase in spend on IT staff was inevitable as companies move out of the recession. “It may be that with IT now underpinning every area of the business, including supply, sales and customer relations, an increase in demand for IT staff is an indicator of a financial upturn.”

The same survey reported that IT, Computing, and IT sales staff were in short supply during December, along with Accounts and Financial staff.

Separately, KPMG conducted a survey last August which reported that in the US, CEOs from the tech sector were more optimistic than those from any other sector with many feeling that technology would lead the country out of recession.