IT contractors expect raise of 10 per cent

Many IT contractors expect to be paid as much as 10 per cent more this year, new research from specialist accountancy firm JSA suggests.

More than half of respondents questioned in the company's annual survey, which spanned more than 600 people working in IT, expect a pay rise in 2007, and of those, some 58 per cent think that increase will be around the 10 to 15 per cent mark

"This year the responses are more bullish than last year," said Barry Roback, chief executive of JSA. Earlier this summer, JSA reported that the average annualised contract value in the IT sector jumped to £56,540 from £49,882 the year prior, a difference of about 13 per cent.

However, half of the contractors surveyed said they expected the market to stay static this year and some even expect it to contract.

Roback disagrees. "The market's stronger. We're definitely on a strong cycle," he said, adding changes to contractor tax rules could also drive up rates.

With a continuing shortage of IT skills and a good economy, Dave Pye, IT spokesperson for the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, also believes the sector will remain buoyant into 2008. "Contractor rates are going to go up," he said. "We're more optimistic about the market than the surveyed contractors."

The survey also found that few IT contractors had knowledge of top programming languages. For example, only six per cent of respondents had PHP skills, 11.5 per cent had C# knowledge and nine per cent claimed to possess AJAX capabilities.

Roback noted that it is often difficult for contractors to fit new training into their finances or their working day. "The tax deductions for skill training are very poor, so there is no strong tax incentive," he said. "And every day spent in training is sacrificing a day's income, so you'd have to be very long-sighted to plan for it."

Pye suggests the apparent lack of skills is because contractors are specialists and tend to focus on a few areas. "People hire contractors for the specific skills they have, so they don't invest in contractor training," said Pye.

All the same, over three-quarters of those surveyed described themselves as being very happy with contracting, with just 18 per cent saying they would prefer full-time employment.

Email to a friend

Print this page

Social Bookmark this article: What is this?

Digg

Delicious

Reddit

StumbleUpon

Slashdot

Google

Facebook