More IT workers needed in February

Monthly KPMG Report on Jobs index is little changed from January

Demand for the services of IT staff continued to rise in February, according to KPMG's Report on Jobs.

The monthly Markit index in conjunction with the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) crunches data provided by about 400 UK recruiting agencies.

"The index for permanent staff demand registered 68.3 in February. This pointed to a strong pace of expansion that was faster than the average for all types of permanent workers across the UK, which posted 67.2," according to a PR statement.

The index was "little changed" from January 2014, it said, when it had found that vacancies were rising faster than at any time since May 1998.

It put the IT sector in fifth place out of nine industries, when it comes to demand for staff.

For temporary staff or contractors, the IT industry came in sixth place. The demand for permanent staff in IT has been stronger than for temporary staff for 52 consecutive months, it said.

"The respective index for temporary/contract professionals came in at 63.8, down from 64.6 in January. Although consistent with a marked rate of expansion, the latest reading was slightly below the UK average for all types of temp staff (65.1)," it said.

The Report on Jobs, which began in October 1997, uses original survey data collected from different industry sectors and regions in the UK at the end of every month, with respondents asked to specify the direction of change in various survey variables.

The index numbers, which may be adjusted by season, reflect the percentages of respondents that report either a rise, no change, or a decline in the parameter measured. For example, 50.0 means there was no change to the situation in the previous month, and those greater than 50.0 reflect an improvement.