UK IT workforce rises by 10,000

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IT workers in the UK have more reasons to be cheerful after statistics have shown that the number of professionals working in the sector rose by 10,000 to 1,061,000 over the third quarter of 2009.

Data from e-skills UK, the sector skills council for business and IT, indicated that even though the unemployment rate in the industry rose to 5.2 per cent when compared to the previous quarter, this was still lower than the 8.3 per cent figure for the overall UK workforce.

Additionally, the number of advertised vacancies for workers in ICT increased by five per cent, following six consecutive quarterly drops.

Demand for contractors, meanwhile, showed a notably strong improvement with a rise of 26 per cent from the previous quarter.

Karen Price, chief executive officer of e-skills UK, told IT PRO: “Growing at four times the UK average for the coming decade, we expect the IT profession will need more than 550,000 new entrants over the next five years.”

However, it is not all blue skies for IT workers after ReThink Recruitment reported that the majority (59 per cent) of IT directors would freeze pay this year, with only 39 per cent increasing salaries.

Despite this, Price claimed that in the third quarter of 2009, full-time IT and telecoms workers were earning, on average, around £750 per week before tax, 43 per cent higher than the wider UK workforce.

“With these pay levels remaining well above the UK average, IT continues to be a desirable and well-rewarded occupation,” she added.

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