IT jobs growth seen across the UK

• Permanent vacancies continue to rise, seeing a 0.7% rise and contract 1.3%
• Regional growth seen in Scotland, Southern England and the West

Quarterly data from specialist IT recruitment site CWJobs.co.uk has shown that in the second quarter of 2013 both permanent (0.7%) and contract (1.3%) IT jobs have shown growth across all UK regions.

Whilst London’s ‘Tech City’ initiative is proving successful, and driving established companies and start-ups to set up in the East London area, this new data indicates that other clusters of technologies firms in the UK could be driving nationwide growth.

Year-on-year, vacancies in London have seen modest growth with 9,886 job vacancies posted in the quarter, a rise of 2.4% on the year.  Vacancies across Scotland (7.9%), Southern England (4.6%) and the West and Wales (3.1%) are leading regional growth, providing opportunities for professionals working outside of the capital city.

In the west, Bristol has been positioned as a computer gaming hub, whilst Cambridge’s “Silicon Fen” is acclaimed to be roots of many of Britain’s most influential technology companies. Meanwhile, Scotland has been making it’s name as a technology start-up capital[1], being home to a number of budding companies which are making moves to become influential industry players, such as SkyScanner, the fast growing online airfare tracker. 

Richard Nott, Website Director, CWJobs, stated: “As investment in technology firms increases, there is less need for professionals to be based in the capital city, giving professionals the opportunity to work across many different regions.  This is good news for the industry and for the prospects of IT professionals across the UK who may no longer need to consider re-locating to get the best jobs. As IT’s position as an inherently ‘networked industry’ grows, it’s likely this trend will continue.”

Driven by ongoing developments in e-commerce, the retail and manufacturing sectors have seen the greatest increase in IT vacancies in the last quarter – growing 6.5% and 9.3% retrospectively. The growth of software houses has slowed slightly on the quarter, rising just 2.7% between Q2 2013 and Q2 2012.

Skills within the industry are also evolving, and the latest data has shown greater demand for professionals skilled in ASP and .Net, whilst previous high-in-demand skills, such as SQL, HTML, and C have seen decreases across permanent roles.

Demand for .NET in particular has seen unprecedented demand, driven by growing numbers of web-based services and applications, as more businesses move to operate online.