Tech sector most confident in UK as employment booms
Growth expectations at UK tech firms well above UK private sector average, according to new research
UK technology companies' employment growth has outperformed the rest of the UK private sector for the past decade, according to new research, which claims the sector is the most confident about the future.
A new report from professional services firms KPMG and Markit shows that over the past 10 years, the UK tech sector has outperformed the rest of the UK private sector and is currently tracking well above the rest of the UK for this year. The data was established from its Purchasing Managers' Index – a method the duo created to track job creation and economic growth within UK tech businesses.
Even in the depths of the recession in 2009, the tech sector hired more staff than the rest of the UK – a gap which considerably widened in the following two years, the research showed.
"The UK tech sector has generated solid rates of job creation over the past four years and it has consistently outpaced other UK private sectors in creating jobs since the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009," said Tudor Aw, head of technology at KPMG.
He added that confidence among tech firms is similarly high.
"In terms of business outlook and confidence, we can take heart that tech companies in the UK are bullish about the next 12 months," Aw said. "Optimism is at one of the highest levels since data was first recorded in late 2009 and also continues the trend that tech companies are consistently more upbeat regarding hiring intentions than other UK sectors."
The research found that firms in the South East of England had the sharpest employment curve, and Wokingham was crowned as the sector's number-one employment cluster in the UK. London came in second, thanks to the city's boroughs of Richmond and Hounslow which hired the next highest proportion of tech workers nationally.
KPMG said it was not surprised the south of England was a hub of tech employment, and said it highlights that investment in transport attracts new businesses to the area.