Guide to the latest IT Contractor Rates

The latest Report on Jobs contains encouraging data for the IT sector, showing strong growth for permanent IT staff, although the Agency Workers Regulations are thought to be responsible for a decline in contract billings in March.

The joint REC/KPMG report, which was published last week, shows that the technology sector has the highest demand for permanent staff by industry sector - now at an eight month high.

By contrast, recruiters reported a downturn in temporary staff billings - although not a large drop, nevertheless it represented the most significant drop in temporary appointments for over two and half years.

According to REC, its contributing members "frequently indicated that employers had chosen to convert temp workers into permanent employees due to the effect of AWR".

In terms of candidate availability, the growth of permanent availability has almost stagnated, whereas the rate of contract and temp candidate availability rose at its lowest rate since August last year.

The report shows that some of the key areas where permanent staff are in short supply include: CAD, CAM, and developers (in general). For contracting, IT and business analysts appear to be particularly in the demand at the moment.

Jeff Brooks, the chair of REC's technology division, said that report was good news for the IT industry - and represented a strong demonstration that employers were growing in confidence.

Tom Hadley, Director of Policy and Professional Services for the REC, said that the decline in temporary worker numbers may also be due to improving business confidence, as well as the impact of the AWR.