Booming demand for IT Contractors
Growing Economy
According to the Bank of England the credit crunch is now over and the economy will continue to grow.
They reckon it will grow by 2% this year which is more than the 1.7% that the Chancellor surmised in the Budget.
IT budgets are growing across Europe by 3.86%.
Skills Shortage
According to Gartner Group
“A decline in consumer confidence seems to be slowing the UK economy more than any real change in market conditions. The result however has not hurt the market for contractors as the need for skilled workers seems to predominate all other trends in the UK market. The need for UK companies to remain competitive is keeping contractors in work here and across Europe as IT budgets are actually getting larger.
“IT budgets across Europe are growing essentially because they are managed better than in the past, and so companies can't afford to cut them anymore. "CIO's have become better managers,'' says Mark McDonald, group vice president and head of research for Gartner Executive Programs”.
Increased Demand
They continued, “We write, at great length in this space, about the skills crisis in the UK, but there is a good reason to do so. It is the major driver in the high-technology market.
“There are some staff reductions across the UK IT departments, Gartner reports, but this also tends to reinforce demand for contractors who are required to do the work the remaining staff can't. The Manchester-based UK National Computing Centre reported at the end of April that the IT skills crisis continues to worsen in the UK, with UK CIOs in a perpetual and desperate hunt for the workers they need”.
According to major
Umbrella Company, Danbro, the IT Contracting market is doing very well and that they are having to add to staff and move to open a new office to cope with demand.
Danbro were ranked 30th in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 league table of fastest growing private companies in the UK earlier this year. In addition to this they are the sixth fastest growing company in the North of England.
Increased Numbers
According to Damian Broughton of Danbro:-
“We are constantly adding to our employee base, with a number of new contractors joining us every day. Due to the growing demand for our service we have moved our head office to larger premises as well as opening out new London”.
So, with the Bank of England calling the credit crunch over and with agencies and
Umbrella Companies all telling us that the market for IT Contractors is pretty good and Gartner saying that companies are not cutting back on IT Budgets, it's looking pretty good for contractors.
