If you're an IT contractor "in between jobs" here's a crumb of hope for a Friday.

ITjob outfit CWJobs.co.uk reckons the demand for IT contract staff is starting to grow as an increasing number of companies look to recruit more contractors than permanent staff during 2003.

According to research carried out in February, just under half of companies quizzed say they expect to recruit permanent staff during the year, while almost two thirds reckon they'll hire contractors.

The view seems to be that companies aren't confident enough yet to recruit permanent staff, but are sticking their toes in the water all the same and hiring contractors instead. Which is nice. ®