Strong growth in tech jobs

Kingfisher

Strong growth in tech jobs
Jennifer Foreshew
JUNE 07, 2005  

THE technology sector had its biggest growth in job vacancies so far this year, recording a rise of 8.69 per cent, seasonally adjusted, in May, according to a survey.

Technology was the top performing employment sector last month, the Olivier Internet Job Index shows.
It bounced back from low growth of 0.48 per cent in April, which was affected by Easter and school holidays.

The Index overall reached a record high in May, with 155,738 Australian jobs advertised on the internet.

It gained 3.5 per cent overall last month, with 13 industry sectors rising and eight falling.


Meanwhile, online advertising data from Icon Recruitment shows an increase in IT positions in all states except the Northern Territory.

Queensland led the growth with a rise of 60 per cent, followed closely by the ACT with 54 per cent.

The index shows more than 82 per cent of IT jobs advertised were for contractors.

The top 10 IT job categories advertised in the past year were technical/engineering, support, project management, quality, analysts, sales/marketing, network/communications, systems development, management and senior management.

The internet Icon Index for the first quarter of 2005 continued to list "vendor skill" as the skill most in demand, with internet expertise also keenly sought.

Olivier Group director Robert Olivier said the increase in technology vacancies last month was probably due to the creation of new jobs.

"There is confidence in the market and the project work seems to be coming through, with project managers and business analyst roles aplenty," Mr Olivier said.

There were 16,954 technology jobs online in May, up from 15,598 in April, an extra 1355 roles.

Technology jobs are up 60.4 per cent on the 10,570 roles advertised a year ago.

Employment in the technology sector continued to grow through the second half of May, Mr Olivier said.

"June will be good, but July could be great because there will be fresh budgets and commitment to projects," he said.

All technology job categories grew last month, except internet graphics and multimedia.

Management and sales roles were up by 388 a week, while software development and engineering jobs continued to gather pace, rising by 391.

Database development and administration roles rose 19.77 per cent to 144 jobs, seasonally adjusted.

Vacancies in the IT graduate market have more than tripled from a year ago.

The average was 256 roles in May, up 21.9 per cent on April.

"We are hearing that the IT market is picking up again and there is a little more talk about poaching on the sales side," Mr Olivier said.