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Increasing demand for IT professionals bucks trend of economic decline

Whilst many sectors of the UK jobs market are feeling the economic pinch, the demand for high level IT professionals is set to increase over the next decade according to the IT and Telecoms Insights 2008 Employment Forecast. The report, produced by e-skills UK, predicts that the average employment growth per annum in the IT sector to 2016 will be 2.5%, compared to only 0.5% in the UK workforce overall.

The effects are being felt in the recruitment sector as companies strive to fulfil a steadily increasing demand. The experience of IT recruitment specialists Langley James (www.langleyjames.net) supports the Insight forecast reports Managing Director James Toovey. “In the 21st century, IT is really at the heart of improving customer service and business performance. At Langley James, we have seen a rise in the need for higher level skills, particularly in areas such as information management and security - something which has been highlighted still further by the recent spate of security breaches at various government departments. This bucks the general industry trend of increasing job insecurity.”

Research suggests that IT based careers are better protected from the effects of the current economic uncertainty. With 1 in 20 of Britain’s workforce employed in the IT and telecoms industries, it seems unlikely, even with the poor outlook for businesses, that unemployment will become the issue it was in the mid 1980s. Instead, Toovey predicts that many people will switch professions and go where the work is – namely into the IT sector. “Our clients show a distinct preference for experienced staff, and so people may find that they need to extend their skill set and swap sectors if they want to stay competitive in the job market.”

A recent recruitment study shows that the high demand for IT professionals has put upward pressure on IT salaries with wages for permanent IT positions rising by over 4% in the last year. "We have seen an encouraging trend of rising salaries in a range of IT jobs in the first half of 2008," adds Toovey. This increase means that the average annual wage for IT professionals now stands at £34,217.

News brough by onrec