Need for IT staff jumps 23 per cent

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The UK job market may be facing tough times but it seems the IT sector needs new employees as much as ever.

An annual report from recruitment consultants Reed showed a leap in available jobs for IT workers in December 2010, up by 23 per cent from the same period in 2009.

This was despite overall job opportunities dropping by seven points on Reed’s job index. However, even with the drop, overall vacancies had risen by four per cent when compared to last year.

Martin Warnes, managing director of reed.co.uk, said the private sector was mostly to thank for the recovery.

“There are grounds for cautious optimism about new job prospects in 2011,” he said. “Rising private sector demand has been enough to create year on year growth in spite of steep falls in new public sector jobs.”

“Clearly there are economic challenges ahead,” Warnes added. “Yet the jobs economy has undoubtedly avoided a much-predicted double-dip in 2010 and the private sector continues to lead a steady recovery in new job demand.”

With further cuts to large public sector IT schemes still set to come into force, 2011 is still not guaranteed to be a settled year for IT workers, but the index is good reading for those searching for employment in the New Year.

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