Brisbane IT&T Market Update: November 2009

The Queensland market remains challenging. While business confidence is slowly strengthening and a mood of cautious optimism prevails, companies are tending to focus on balance-sheet issues ahead of investment in new or expanded IT capabilities.

Over the past three months there has only been a slight increase in demand for contract and permanent IT staff, with the majority of demand being driven by business-as-usual projects.
There have been a few recent and isolated examples of Queensland Government agencies moving to fixed-term appointments in lieu of contract arrangements with IT staff, however
not enough to impact upon the overall levels of permanent or contract jobs.

Looking ahead, the current slight increase in demand may be constrained in the coming months: first due to the traditional lull in IT activity over the Christmas – New Year period, and also due to the funding cycle associated with State-owned entities, who represent a significant slice of the Queensland market for IT staff.

Contract and Permanent Demand

The level of IT contract activity has slightly increased over the last three months, as new projects (especially in the State Government sector) have gained required funding.

Peoplebank expects demand to be reduced in the coming two months, as business-as-usual and special projects halt during the Christmas and holiday season.

Levels of demand for permanent IT staff in both the public and private sectors has also increased slightly and is expected to continue into the next quarter.

In Demand Skills

Demand is strongest for IT professionals with strong skills in…

- Help Desk/Support
- Active Directory, Windows and VMWare
- Business & Process Analysts
- Systems and Network Administrators
- Testers – QTP and Automated
- Project Managers with skills in infrastructure and applications