IT contractor hiring rises again

The public sector has seen a rise in its number of IT contractors since September of this year.  Over the last few months there has been an increasing amount of IT contractors taken on in the public sector.

Computer People have released their latest data showing that the most significant rise was in the four weeks leading to October.  This shows strong signs that the government bodies are continuing with many of their planned projects.

A spokesperson for Computer People has said, “Whilst times may be tough in the public sector it is more inclined to staff up with contract candidates, as hiring managers will have more flexibility and can attribute the cost to direct project line budgets, rather than incurring a fixed cost.”

Permanent staff rates in the public IT sector have fallen but IT contractor rates continue to rise.  The largest rises were for Oracle, C# and .Net contractors.  Many public sector areas will be slowing down over the Christmas period and new year, so it will be interesting to see what the new year brings for the IT contracting work force.

Computer People feel that many of these IT contractors are brought in so companies can spend their excess budget before the year is out.  Speaking about the increase in IT contractors, Computer People’s director, Sid Barnes,  said, “Over the past six months the contract market has fared better than permanent.  This could mean that the contract recruitment market is picking up the work that would have been undertaken by permanent staff.

“There was also a large increase in the number of projects that were taken off the shelf and new projects approved.  Hiring managers also had new approved budgets and wanted to staff up early whilst contract staff were available.”

It will be an interesting new year ahead!