Demand for IT workers outstripping supply for first time since 2008

There could be more opportunities for people looking for IT Jobs in the coming months, according to latest report by sector skills council e-Skills UK as demand for skilled IT workers is outstripping supply for the first time since 2008.

The number of jobs advertised for IT staff rose to 101,000 vacancies in the third quarter of 2010 while the number of IT professionals seeking work decreased to 100,000, creating a shortage of 1,000 candidates in the IT jobs market.

The report highlighted there was demand for particular job roles within the IT industry, employers are seeking demand for software suppliers in the finance, retail and media sectors. The majority of permanent positions advertised were for systems design and development roles.

The skills most in demand were SQL, C#, SQLserver, ASP, Java, HTML and Javascript.

However, it expected that there would be further project management jobs and business analysis jobs made available.

"While this is good news for IT professionals seeking employment in the sector, the drop in the number of ready candidates with the required set of skills may start to become a problem for recruiters," commented Karen Price, chief executive of e-skills UK.

Another finding highlighted by the report shows that IT training to staff has fallen to 23%, the lowest level since the Bulletin began.

"We are working closely with employers to reverse this by encouraging continued investment in workforce skills development," Ms Price said.