Agents say half as many IT contractor skills are scarce

The technology jobs market is twice as short of IT skills on a permanent or full-time basis than it is on a freelance, contract or temporary basis, shows an April staffing report.

In fact, a total of 10 IT skills were last month scarce for employee vacancies and positions, compared with just five IT skills in short supply for contracts and temporary assignments.

The ten are; Business Analysis, C++, Development, Digital, Java, Linux, .Net, PHP, Sharepoint and SQL, found the REC, whose member agencies reported the shortages.

Also according to the REC’s latest Report on Jobs, the agencies identified the five hard-to-find skills for IT contracts as Business Intelligence, Digital, Java, PHP and SQL.

This list suggests a shortage in March of Business Analysis and .Net has now abated in the contract market, but the dearth of these two IT skills in the permanent market persists.

“The declining pool of available labour continues to force pay up,” said Bernard Brown, partner at KPMG, which co-authored the April report.  

“With two in five recruiters in the UK reporting falling candidate availability, spiralling salary growth remains a concern as businesses bid against each other to secure skilled staff.”

The REC’s index, which uses a reading of above 50 to signal stronger growth than a month ago, confirms the appetite for IT contractors to be increasing.

Its reading in the IT/Computing sector for contractors began this year at 62.6; was 61.6 in February and then 61.7 in March but now – according to the April report -- it stands at 62.2.