IT salaries survey shows manufacturing sector down, but skills needed
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Figures from the National Computing Centre indicate that employment growth for IT professionals will be fairly stable in 2009, although manufacturing may suffer.
NCC finds that 49% of respondents to its salaries and employment trends survey expect the number of IT staff to increase over the next two years. It also reveals a third said they were having problems recruiting and retaining staff.
Interestingly, it suggests that demand for systems and support staff is likely to grow to 10.2% over the next two years, compared to an expected growth rate last year of 8.1%.
Behind the top line figures, the highest predicted two year growth rate is systems development staff, predicted to increase by 13.1%.
However, while the IT services sector is a clear winner, with 80% of survey respondents expecting an increase in IT staff over the next two years (and more than 60% predicting an increase above 20% of staff in post), in contrast, only 25% of respondents from transport, utilities and communications, and 32.7% from manufacturing are predicting growth in IT posts this year.
Staff shortages are, however, emerging. The level of overall perceived shortages has risen from the very low level of 6.8% in last year’s survey to 7.9% now – not high, but an indication that general IT skills shortages are worsening. This is the highest perceived shortage reported in the survey since 2001.
As for skills most in demand, 33.7% of respondents indicated specific IT skills requirements, particularly around Oracle, SAP, .Net, web development, business analysis and network support. New skills respondents want over the next 12 months include VMWare, virtualisation, .Net C# security and ITIL.
“The current economic gloom will create new winners and losers, but 2009 will also be a year of transition,” says Christine Jack, NCC research manager.
“Outsourced software and desktop services are maturing and will become a more financially attractive alternative for cash strapped companies,” she adds.
NCC’s Benchmark of Salaries and Employment Trends in IT study has become the de-facto report used by employers to establish pay and benefits in the UK and provides details of staff turnover, salary increases, shortages and skills issues.
