Demand for temporary expertise in the sector has climbed steadily between December and April 2005, with the latest market reading showing contract personnel increased by 25 per cent in the first quarter this year. The market analysis, from the latest CW Jobs/SSL survey, also reveals that buoyancy in the public sector has resulted in a slump in contractor advertisements for Media and Software houses/ Consultancy businesses.
Yet the decline in demand for contractors from Software houses/Consultancies has not stopped the sector being the biggest advertiser of temporary IT workers so far in 2005.
Conversely, other contract employers in the Manufacturing, Retail/Distribution and Electronics/Communications sectors have increased the call for temporary techies, when compared to advertisements in December.
However, CW Jobs pointed out that the numbers of contractors working for public sector clients has risen steadily since January 2004 until December, when levels lagged just 5 per cent behind the IT-rich Finance sector.
This represents a 135 per cent increase in the call for public sector professionals, when compared to the number of adverts posted online, in the national press and in business magazines during December.
Given the spate of existing public sector projects coupled with those in the pipeline, analysts at CW said the demand for contractors is set to continue into 2005 and beyond.
“Since 2004 we have witnessed a continual investment in e-government initiatives,” said Richard Nott, group commercial director.
“[These are] aimed at improving efficiency at all levels within the public sector and the results are beginning to show particularly in the rise of contract positions.
“However, we have also witnessed several reports claiming that there is still much work to be done in order to improve IT and, as a result, we feel that the numbers will continue to increase throughout 2005 and beyond.”
Alan Rommel, Head of the Government Division at Parity Resources, told CUK that the public sector has a distinct advantage over the private sector in terms of recruiting skilled contractors for IT projects.
This is because the private cannot compete with the level of technology and scale of projects that are being proposed in the public, said Rommel, ensuring skilled contractors will be attracted by the sheer enormity of the challenge.
He added some contractors feel the lure of the public sector because they want to contribute to a high profile project designed for the “greater good” of society.
Likewise, other professionals might find the stability of a 10-year contract appealing, available through the long-term design of e-government initiatives.
Moreover, Rommel believes that with many contractors concerned about losing their job to offshore outsourcing – the public sector provides a more secure alternative, while for some, it may have become the only option.
Sean Gallagher, managing director of IT Human Resources plc, agrees that public sector opportunities for contractors have steadily increased across local and central government.
He told CUK this was mainly due to the high profile push of e-government initiatives, the introduction of new compliance laws across the EU, and the updating or consolidation of government departments.
But, he said, there was not yet a tussle between the public and the private in their attempt to recruit highly-skilled IT contractors.
“We are not experiencing contractors being torn between the public and private sector,” Gallagher said.
“Ultimately, rates will dictate the availability and direction -either public or private - of skilled staff but we are not there yet. This may change over time as the new administration approves new initiatives, like national ID cards, that will require a vast new pool of IT talent to design, develop and implement.”
Elsewhere in the sector, the contract market suffers from a shortage of helpdesk support with no other skills currently in short supply, according to the latest REC/Deloitte Report on Jobs.
The permanent market is however struggling to find suitably skilled candidates, and agencies report an absence of Web designers, IT directors, helpdesk support, information scientists and non-managerial staff.
According to CW Jobs, the most sought after skills for public sector contractors are Office, SQL, Oracle and Unix.
Other hot skills include Business Analysts, Technical project management, and "e" based skills. Meanwhile, Mr Gallagher, who is also a member of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s IT sector group, added that contractors are wanted for their security expertise as companies continue to strive for secure communications and connectivity.
Quelle: Contractor UK, 11.05.2005
