Guide to the latest IT Contractor Rates

Specialist recruitment consultancy, IntaPeople, has revealed the most advertised contract roles of the past year, and explains why the contracting market remains buoyant despite widespread economic uncertainty.

Here is the list, based on the number of jobs the recruiters has advertised on behalf of its clients from January 1st to November 1st 2011:

Top 10 contract roles demanded by clients

1) Java Developers

2) C# / .NET Developers

3) Project Managers

4) Business Analysts

5) Oracle DBAs

6) Test Analysts

7) SAP Consultants

8) Active Directory Engineers

9) Sharepoint Developers

10) UNIX Engineers

The total number of contract vacancies advertised by the firm has increased by 21% between the start of 2011 and November 1st.

Contractor market remains buoyant

Despite recent news of rate cuts by investment banks, the IntaPeople findings, and other recent reports, continue to show that the contract market remains remarkably buoyant, although there are regional and industry differences.

The most recent jobsadwatch.co.uk quarterly survey showed that the number of contract roles advertised online increased by 5% in the third quarter of 2011.

IntaPeople told Contract Eye that the increase in demand for contractors is due to a shortage of permanent professionals (particularly Java and C# Developers), which has left many companies have no choice but to advertise on a contract-basis in order to progress important projects.

Another reason a company spokesman gave us for the increase in contract requirements was that many organisations are still concerned about the possibility of a second recession and do not want to commit to taking on permanent workers.

Contractors offer them greater flexibility, enabling them to downscale very quickly should they encounter any financial difficulties.