Businesses show strong demand for IT staff

Permanent IT staff are in particular demand

IT and computing staff are the most sought after professionals in the UK, according to the latest jobs report from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG.

Permanent IT staff are in particular demand, but contract staff vacancies have also seen a marked increase, said the report, which was published today and contains data from numerous recruitment consultancies.

The shortest supplies of IT skills are those in Microsoft SharePoint, analysis and software sales, REC said.

Generally, the report showed how the UK jobs market continued to improve in March for permanent staff and contractors, a trend that emerged at the end of last year.

Meanwhile, some sectors remain hard hit by the recession such as construction, manufacturing, financial services and retail.

Permanent appointments in most sectors have now reached their fastest pace in over 12 years, aligning with a slowdown in the increase in permanent vacancies.

Permanent staff salaries rose again in March, and temporary pay increased at a pace that, although modest, was the sharpest since June 2008.

"IT is at the core of every 21st century organisation," said Sean Gallagher, an executive member of REC Technology.

"But while it is at the core, it can also be at the periphery in that if a company is working well it may need more software, but in a recession IT projects will be cut quickly.

"If organisations lay off thousands of people, support roles are cut back. But now that organisations need to hire more people, the demand for IT is getting greater. Now we may see IT leading the economy out of the recession."