IT jobs rise sees skills shortage threat returning
- 01 February, 2010 15:49
- Comments 5
ICT jobs have rebounded and Australia is nearing a skills shortage, according to the latest Candle ICT skills survey.
Candle ICT CEO, David Stewart, said most of the rise responsible for taking Australia’s ICT jobs market out of negative territory came in the last few weeks. The company’s Clarius Skills Index December 2009 reading sits at 99.8, which represents a surplus of 500 extra ICT workers.
While the rating hasn’t reached peak employment conditions recorded in March 2008, when the index sat at a “high” rating of 104.2 for ICT positions, it is an improvement on the market low 99.3 recorded in September 2009.
“We never really went into a real surplus of labour. There had been some quite severe skills shortages and as we went through the economic slowdown, it became more of a balanced picture,” Stewart said. “Now there’s been a steady pickup in workers, particularly through December and January, and as the demand has picked up, the number of people in the workforce has gone down.”
The analysis is in line with the latest Hudson Report, which found employer confidence at a record high thanks to the National Broadband Network (NBN) and increased spending on IT projects. The latest December Olivier Report also said IT jobs would grow faster than the national average.
Stewart added the market’s improvement boosted business confidence and helped get projects off the ground with the relevant staff on the payroll.
“When demand was dropping off, the first people being laid off were the program managers,” he said. “The program managers in particular are now the demand for them is picking back again.”
But Stewart cautioned against excessive optimism and said the market would not fully recover until later this year.
“We were certainly expecting a slow, gradual increase throughout 2010, but the first couple of months pickup have beaten expectation,” he said. “It remains to be seen whether it will be maintained or if it’s just a releasing of penthouse demand.
“I would anticipate that we’ll be back to normal hiring levels by the middle of the year.”
Come socialise with us! Facebook | LinkedIn
- Bookmark this page
- Share this article
- Got more on this story? Email ARN
- Follow ARN on twitter
- Aberdeen Group: Building Business Resilience Through Active Archive
- In Search of the Long-Term Archiving Solution —Tape Continues to Be a Major Player
- In Search of the Long-Term Archiving Solution —Tape Delivers Significant TCO Advantage over Disk
- Spectra Logic and Australian National University Success Story - March 2012
- Market Potential-Strategy Guide to the Active Archive Market
-
Tech Watch: Who watches the datacentre?
-
Facebook scammers host Trojan horse extensions on the Chrome Web Store
-
Webroot: Growth in security
-
Sice quits Acronis, joins Staples
-
Sice quits Acronis, joins Staples
Get exclusive access to ARN's news, research and invitation only events. 
Comments
Anonymous
Incredible
Well here in Perth its 6 months without a job and counting for me. I'm a C++ developer with 20 years experience. I've couple of friends in agencies and they're still scratching around for work. Is this an excuse to bring more Indians in?
Suzan Gillie
When you use the phrase "labor shortage" or "skills shortage" you're speaking in a sentence fragment. What you actually mean to say is: "There is a labor shortage at the salary level I'm willing to pay." That statement is the correct phrase; the complete sentence and the intellectually honest statement.
Some people speak about shortages as though they represent some absolute, readily identifiable lack of desirable services. Price is rarely accorded its proper importance in their discussion.
If you start raising wages and improving working conditions, and continue doing so, you'll solve your shortage and will have people lining up around the block to work for you even if you need to have huge piles of steaming manure hand-scooped on a blazing summer afternoon.
And if you think there's going to be a shortage caused by employees retiring out of the workforce: Guess again: With the majority of retirement accounts down about 50% or more, most people entering retirement age are working well into their sunset years. So, you won’t be getting a worker shortage anytime soon due to retirees exiting the workforce.
Some specialized jobs require training and/or certification, again, the solution is higher wages and improved benefits. People will self-fund their re-education so that they can enter the industry in a work-ready state. The attractive wages, working conditions and career prospects of technology during the 1980’s and 1990’s was a prime example of people’s willingness to self-fund their own career re-education.
There is never enough of any good or service to satisfy all wants or desires. A buyer, or employer, must give up something to get something. They must pay the market price and forego whatever else he could have for the same price. The forces of supply and demand determine these prices -- and the price of a skilled workman is no exception. The buyer can take it or leave it. However, those who choose to leave it (because of lack of funds or personal preference) must not cry shortage. The good is available at the market price. All goods and services are scarce, but scarcity and shortages are by no means synonymous. Scarcity is a regrettable and unavoidable fact.
Shortages are purely a function of price. The only way in which a shortage has existed, or ever will exist, is in cases where the "going price" has been held below the market-clearing price.
Anonymous
Yeah right
I'm a recent IT graduate who is currently looking for work. I've lost count of how many positions I have applied for, and I'm flat out getting an interview, let alone a job. The trouble is that everyone wants experience, which I obviously don't have because I've been studying instead, even a lot of Entry Level/Level 1 positions want someone with at least 1 year of experience, despite the fact that they're only going to pay peanuts. I ask you - what do you call an Entry Level position that requires experience? Also, nobody wants to spend the money on training people. I'm sorry, but really if employers are complaining about an upcoming skills shortage, they should take a good look at themselves - they've done it all to themselves being greedy, wanting the world but not wanting to pay for it.
Highly Amusing
The grammar in this story is atrocious, but the typo/Freudian slip at the end is GOLD! I am so amused I am sitting here releasing a bit of penthouse demand myself...
Ho hum
Where're I.T. folk and not dumb HR folk here, who cares about the grammar, read for the key message rather than purely looking at the words themselves
Post new comment