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Quarterly demand for contractors up 3%, public sector roles recover

Posted Aug 3, 2011

The latest quarterly jobs market report from CWJobs and jobsadwatch.co.uk shows that the number of contract vacancies advertised during the second quarter of 2011 was up by over 3%.

Following the contractor cull that followed the credit crunch, contract rates have steadily improved since the start of 2010, with median rates up 1.8% in the last quarter compared to 12 months ago.

Contractors with C#, JAVA and .NET skills are in particular demand, with vacancies requiring these skills up by over 5% on the previous quarter. In fact, the annual increase in demand for .NET skills is up almost 30%, closely followed by C# on 25.4%.

The regional split in demand of contractors continues to grow, with over 80% of all contract vacancies advertised in the south of the country.

The demand for freelancers in Central London grew by 6.3% between April and June 2011, but fell by the same amount in the North West, for example. Demand for IT contractors in Scotland fell by 3.6%, but few by 7.4% in the West of the UK and Wales.

Software houses and financial organisations continue to create the lions share of contract vacancies (taking over 80% of the market between them).

Interestingly, despite a near 50% decrease in public sector contract vacancies advertised over the past year, the previous quarter shows a 3% increase in contract vacancies, compared to a 2% fall in permanent public sector roles.

You can read the full report (PDF) here.

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