IT job market defies public sector cutbacks

Number of permanent positions in the IT sector on the up, despite government gloom

Working out: Permanent positions in the IT sector are increasing

The permanent IT jobs market is on the up despite the cloud hanging over the industry due to public sector cutbacks.

According to research from jobs web sites CWJobs and JobsAdsWatch, the number of public sector job postings has dropped 21 per cent, but the overall IT jobs market for permanent staff has actually increased by eight per cent since March this year.

Despite the cuts, contract work in the public sector is still buoyant, the research claims.

Permanent job postings for the financial and media sectors continue to increase, with an eight per cent and 12 per cent increase respectively.

Q2 2010 also saw demand for Linux skills and experience increased by eight per cent, overtaking Unix for the first time. The most sought-after skills continue to be SQL, Java, C, C#, .Net, SQL Server and ASP.

Richard Nott, web site director of CWJobs, said: "We were all aware that the IT sector would be affected by public sector cutbacks, but it's encouraging to see that overall job postings are continuing to increase.

"With contract work still available at the moment, there are opportunities in the public sector for those willing and able to be flexible."