UK IT job growth at most rapid since dot-com boom

Statistics show two quarters of double-digit growth for the first time since dawn of millennium

The UK is currently going through its biggest growth in IT jobs since the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, with almost 720,000 employed in the industry as of March this year.

That represents an 11 per cent rise compared with the same period the previous year, with computing programming and consultancy the fastest growing areas. The figures, released by the Office of National Statistics and analysed by The Financial Times marks the first time that the level of growth in IT jobs has reached double figures in back-to-back quarters.

Despite the increase in IT roles, however, the industry remains very much male dominated, with 72 per cent of full-time jobs in the sector - as well as 86 per cent of part-time roles - filled by men. That means the gender divide remains much the same as it did immediately following it the dot-com boom, with women in IT still a distinct minority.

An increased desire by organisations of all sizes to make IT systems more efficient has been labelled as one of the factors contributing to the overall rise in jobs, in addition to a rapid growth in web and technology-based businesses, particularly in areas such as Silicon Roundabout in East London.

Qualifications available have also contributed to the increased number of people working in IT, with more people than ever leaving schools and universities with A-levels and degrees in computer-based subjects.

However, there are still areas of IT that lack the required number of professionals with expertise, with the cyber security arena chief among them. Earlier this year, the National Audit Office warned that the UK is desperately short of the expertise required to protect against cyber attacks, and that it could take up to 20 years to properly address the skills gap.