IT recruitment dives 24 per cent

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The number of IT jobs being advertised fell by 24 per cent in the last quarter of 2008, as the struggling economy took its toll.

According to numbers from Salary Services Limited (SSL), IT recruitment fell from 129,672 jobs in the third quarter of last year, to 98,173 in the last quarter. A post on its site claimed this was the worst decline in jobs since 2001 – and could soon be as bad as 1991.

The number of jobs advertised in London since the start of 2008 has fallen 45 per cent – much of that in the past six months.

As demand falls, salaries are also being hit, said George Molyneaux, research director for SSL, in a statement. “Needless to say this reduction in demand is starting to feed through to pay levels with advertised salaries remaining at the same level as last year. The first time this has happened since 1992,” he said.

Still, many skills are still in demand. While SQL skills fell 12.5 per cent on-quarter, it was still the most advertised, across both the contract and permanent markets.

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