Across a whole range of UK industries jobs are being cut. Yet, when it comes to IT there is still great deal of growth. Exactly how much growth there will be is up for argument at the moment but there will be growth according to a number of published studies. Some studies indicate that the growth will stay in single figures, however other studies indicate that growth within the IT sector will be double that of any other sector. Which of these studies and assessments of the IT sector are correct remains to be seen.
Ever increasing demand for IT professionals
There is little doubt that there will be increasing demand for IT professionals, in the UK, and across the rest of the world. Demand already outstrips supply, and is set to continue to do so for at least another five or six years.
Specialist recruitment agencies have seen the number of jobs being posted rise steadily for several years now. They have also noticed that salaries have also grown steadily, a sure sign that firms are desperate to attract good people.
A recent study by Technology Insights and the E-skills Skill Council indicate that between now and 2020 the UK will need a further 129,000 IT workers. Without these new recruits, much of the growth that there has been in the UK service sector will stop. Karen Price, the CEO of E-skills UK, noted that – “Technology Insights 2012 shows how important IT and Telecoms is to the competitiveness and economic growth of the UK”.
The problem is going to be how to bridge the skill gap quickly enough. Only a few IT jobs can be done without extensive training. This means that it will take several years to train up enough people to fill the vacancies that already exist, let alone new ones.
IT skills shortage is a global problem
While some UK companies are managing to recruit, others are struggling to fill all their vacancies. There seems to have been a growing trend for people advertising IT jobs on specialist recruitment websites to widen the net. They are seeing more and more European firms trying to attract UK IT professionals. Given the fact that no country appears to have a large pool of unemployed IT professionals it would appear that the skills shortage is not just going to be a problem for the UK.
Given business demands to increase the number of staff qualified to run their increasingly complex systems, IT jobs are probably going to continue to see growth.
CWJobs has plenty of IT jobs – visit the site to take a look at all the possible roles that are available.