More Australian ICT jobs going to contractors

Australian ICT recruitment trends shifted even further in favour of contractors in the March quarter, with permanent staff representing just 9% of all recent hires, according to contracting industry body ITCRA.

The body’s latest ICT employment trends report also shows that contractor roles are taking longer to fill due to accelerating demand.

New South Wales remained the largest market for IT recruitment, accounting for 39% of hires. It took an average of 45 days to fill a contractor role in NSW, up from 28 last quarter, and 62 days to fill a permanent role.

Victoria made up 26% of hires and the state's IT contractors received an average of $112.10 per hour. It took 42 days to fill the average IT contractor position, up from 33 last year.

In Queensland, which accounted for 11% of the jobs market, days taken to fill a role increased from 25 to 29. South Australian contracting roles took 24 days while Western Australian roles took 29, up from 20 last quarter. Days taken in the ACT increased from 45 to 49.

Australia’s economic uncertainties seem to be settling down, with the GDP trend levelling out and the labour market stabilising,” ITCRA CEO Julie Mills said in a statement announcing the results.

“Job ads are continuing to climb and employers are still optimistic about increasing headcount; however, this positivity is geographically based, with Western Australia’s mining downturn appearing to be reflected into ICT in these indicators.”

But ITCRA said the study also shows a near-wholesale softening of average hourly rates for ICT hires since last quarter. The only state where hourly rates increased was Queensland.

NSW contractors were the highest paid in the nation, pulling in an average of $120.99 per hour. The lowest-paid contractors were in South Australia, with an average hourly rate of $53.96, followed by Western Australia at $78.50.

Image courtesy of Alan Cleaver under CC