SThree say that IT Contractor market is still improving...

SThree say that IT Contractor market is still improving...



27th October 2008
Author: Robert Basler








Up

According to leading agency, SThree, the IT Contracting market is holding up pretty well, whilst the permanent market is taking a bit of a dive.

So, it's still good news for IT Contractors in the UK.

They are talking about their latest quarter which takes them to the end of August.

They say that they have 5,911 contractors, which is an increase of 11.7% on the previous year.

They say, also, that gross profit per day rates have improved also.

During the quarter, SThree made a total of 2,552 permanent placements, an increase of 11.8 % over the prior year (2007: 2,283).

Average placement fees also improved on the equivalent period last year.

Numbers

At the end of the third quarter UK contract runners were up 3.4%, with gross profit per day rates strengthening compared to the equivalent period last year.

During the quarter, UK permanent placements were down 9.6%.

Average UK permanent placement fees were stable, despite the continuing impact of the weak UK banking and finance segment, which traditionally has significantly higher than average placement fees.

As expected, UK permanent sales headcount reduced slightly versus last year whilst UK contract headcount was up slightly, leaving the overall UK sales headcount broadly level year on year.




IT Contractor Comment

So, there's still no sign of a downturn for IT Contractors in the real world.

Agencies are virtually all saying that their contractor numbers are up and that the market still looks good.

This news now takes us to the end of August.

The crucial number for us is that contractor numbers are up by 3.4% compared to the equivalent period last year and that pay rates are up too.

Last week an Umbrella Company told us that their numbers were up too.

If there is to be a downturn for IT Contractors it hasn't been seen yet up to the end of August.

Let's hope it continues that way.

The only downturn has been in job ads, but this doesn't seem to have trickled through to the real world when it comes to numbers of contractor working.

IT Contractor has Umbrella Companies, Personal Service Company and IT Accountants directories as well as a Limited Company Set-up facility, IR35.