IT skills shortages re-emerge; salaries up slightly
1 min read
IT skills shortages are re-emerging, with reported difficulties in recruiting having increased from 4.2% last year to 6.8% this – the worst in a decade – and bonuses are getting meaty.
That’s among main findings from the respected NCC Benchmark of Salaries and Employment Trends in IT – the 25th annual survey from National Computing Centre. It finds just under 40% of respondents indicating specific recruitment and retention issues, which is a significant increase on the 29% last year.
Those with Oracle, SAP, .Net, web development, network support, business analysis and project management skills will be in highest demand over the next two years. Also, with the trend towards virtualisation technologies, professionals with VMware experience and skills will be highly prized, says Ian Jones, NCC’s head of content.
“With some skills moving into shortage, employers should be planning and budgeting for how best to acquire these skills now. It is an unwelcome message but they should be prepared for the extra cost,” he adds.
NCC notes that, in many cases, difficulties are mostly around recruitment rather than retention. Indeed, it finds 73% of those indicating the need for new skills plan to acquire them by re-skilling and training existing staff.
Meanwhile, salary growth in the sector remains stable with respondents reporting a median salary increase of 3.7% – up slightly on last year and a rate that matches the national increase in average earnings reported by the Government.
However, the number of individuals receiving performance-related bonuses is on the increase – up 6% to 44% – and those that do receive a bonus have seen them rise in overall value from 7.5% to 8.3%. Typically, management fared better in both salaries and bonus levels than non-managers and those working in Greater London received a healthy 17% premium in average pay levels.
