Australian IT jobs lead the market

Analysts are predicting strong growth in the IT job ad market with an 8.11 per cent rise in the number of IT jobs being advertised in February, according to the Advantage Job Index.

The seasonally adjusted figure was down 11.05 per cent year-on-year, but 18.44 per cent up on six months ago.

The index was formerly known as the Olivier Job Index.

Advantage Professionals director, Robert Olivier, said the market was on the fast road to recovery and would continue improving in the next few months despite a slight 0.82 per cent drop in January.

“Organisations seem to be letting loose on the spending now,” he said. “NSW enjoyed the bulk of the growth with an 11.62 per cent rise and the IT sector outperformed the market there. Victoria was up 4.93 per cent.”

Olivier said part of the reason for the rise in hiring could be the lingering memory of skilled IT jobs shortage that plagued the industry before the global financial crisis. But he warned applicants not to jump the gun and expect to be chased.

“You don’t have to go far back to remember how tough the skills shortage was two years ago, so I think that is in people’s minds,” he said.

“But if you ask yourself if there’s a skills shortage now, on a purely statistical level the answer must be 'no',” he said. “Demand is still not up to where it could be.”

His comments come as the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported a slight rise in overall unemployment numbers for February to 5.3 per cent, which represents an increase of 10,700 people.

“IT is one area that’s least easy to predict, but business investment is picking up,” he said. “There will be reasonable and steady progress rather than something spectacular.”

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