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The report also says that the 'growth of billings received by consultancies from temporary and contract staff employment have also slowed, rising at their slowest rates for two years.'
The new report covers the time period up to the beginning of May and to a certain extent reflects the 'knee-jerk' slowdown and recruitment freeze reported, particularly in the City, at that time. Subsequent events have shown that in fact the fast drop off in recruitment has not been as steep as first feared and has risen since in line with increasing stock market confidence. As ever, work is available for those businesses which can supply key skills.
Nevertheless an underlying fall in the incidence of skills shortages was also reported, with recruitment consultants reporting the increased availability of both permanent and temporary staff.
With demand for staff showing signs of slowing and skill shortages becoming less widespread, wage and salary growth has eased to a level not seen since December 1999 with temporary and contract staff hourly rates rising at their slowest levels since January 2000. All these factors combine to suggest a hard time for certain agencies in the near future, as costs of advertising are reduced and rates and vacancies fall.
Average weekly billings from temporary and contract staff rose for the twenty-sixth successive month in April. However, the pace of growth eased for the sixth month running to the slowest since April 1999.
Demand continues to fall in IT |
Demand for temporary and contract staff varied markedly by sector. Most significant, however, was a contraction in demand for temporary and contract IT and computing staff for the second month running. However, the report states that there are some key skills in short supply, namely: Administrators, Technicians, Java, C++, & CRM Programmers and Software Developers.
The incidence of temporary and contract staff skills shortages in April was the lowest since January 2000. The number of recruitment and employment consultancies that reported the availability of staff to have deteriorated during the month only marginally outnumbered those reporting an improvement, therefore signaling a marked easing of skill shortages compared to the recent peak of last October.
Speaking of the findings Kathy McMaster, Managing Director of IT Consultancy Certes Group said, "There are always peaks and troughs within the IT recruitment sector. However, feedback from our presence at the recent Windows 2001 Show indicates there are still significant levels of projects planned by companies in all sectors during the next quarter that will require both permanent and contract staff. Some sectors are approaching projects more cautiously than others are at the moment, including banking and telecoms. But this illustrates a 'wait and see' attitude and not a lack of opportunities in other industries."
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Richard Powell, Shout99
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