This article is more than 1 year old

Wait, don't ditch that IT career just yet: UK vacancies hit 5-year high

Dust off those SQL, C# and C skills, consider not living in the north east

Britain's tech jobs market is showing signs of recovery with the number of available positions growing across the nation.

The number of tech jobs available in inner London has doubled since 2009, from 5,736 to 9,886 in 2013, according to new independent figures.

IT recruiters CWJobs handed El Reg data that suggests the number of permanent jobs available in the UK has grown by a tiny 0.7 percent in the second quarter of 2013, while contract roles have increased by 1.3 percent.

The stats show that there are more jobs available in the provinces of Britain in 2013 than there were in 2012, although Scotland, the north east and the north west have not yet managed to open up the same number of jobs that were around in 2009.

Nonetheless, CWJobs said that although London's Tech City, created in Shoreditch, was "proving successful", there were "other clusters of technology firms in the UK that were driving growth".

Vacancies across Scotland have increased by 7.9 per cent in the last year, according to the latest calculations, while southern England advertised for 4.6 per cent more jobs, and the west and Wales now both offer 3.1 per cent more open positions.

A CWJobs spokeswoman said: "In the west, Bristol has been positioned as a computer gaming hub, whilst Cambridge’s Silicon Fen is acclaimed to be roots of many of Britain’s most influential technology companies. Meanwhile, Scotland has been making it’s name as a technology start-up capital, being home to a number of budding companies which are making moves to become influential industry players, such as SkyScanner, the fast growing online airfare tracker."

UK permanent IT vacancies 2009 to 2013

Region Inner London Outer London Southern England West and Wales East Midlands West Midlands North West North East Scotland
Q2 2013 9,886 23,365 27,421 7,997 5,901 3,789 4,274 2,833 1,895
Q2 2012 9,654 22,675 26,223 7,760 5,745 3,711 4,237 2,852 1,756
Q2 2011 8838 20571 24261 7372 5728 3774 4317 3155 1729
Q2 2010 6,714 17,859 18,929 6,425 4,958 3,592 4,068 3,192 1,718
Q2 2009 5,736 14,899 15,944 5,813 4,702 3,654 4,346 3,691 1,997

Figures sourced from "the UK’s leading IT and multi-sector recruitment websites, together with jobs advertised in IT business magazines, as well as national and selected regional press. The data does not include vacancies for sales or overseas-based positions".

The jobs firm predicted the growth could see tech workers shun the capital in favour of further-flung places.

Richard Nott, website director at CWJobs, added: “This is good news for the industry and for the prospects of IT professionals across the UK who may no longer need to consider re-locating to get the best jobs. As IT’s position as an inherently networked industry grows, it’s likely this trend will continue.”

The biggest area of employment is SQL, with 19,875 relevant jobs available across the UK, followed by C#, with 14,192 jobs, and then C, with 13,179 jobs. Software houses and consultancies are the biggest employers, with 48,217 jobs available at the time of writing. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like