IT contractors in demand, but more growth is needed

Their findings showed that nearly all (98%) either had their pay frozen or had to accept a cut in pay. And the average decrease was about 10%.

The picture as far as rates goes doesn't look much better this year with more than half of the IT directors surveyed saying they would impose a pay freeze again this year. Better news however is that employment prospects do look better with 46% of directors planning to increase their workforce this year.

There is already an increase in demand for experienced IT contractors, especially those who are skilled in LINUX, .Net, Java and C# and good quality, skilled candidates are hard to find.

The latest e-skills Bulletin which published statistics from the final quarter of 2009 showed a rise of 26% over the previous quarter in the amount of opportunities available to skilled IT contractors. There are now an estimated £1.061m workers in the UK's IT sector which is the highest level in 5 years.

IT workers in London still command the highest rates earning on average £900 per week. This is in sharp contrast to the North East where the average is a mere £450.

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