Canberra IT&T Market Update: November 2009

Over the past three months there has been a general constriction in both project and business-as-usual funding, which is creating a backlog of projects and infrastructure upgrade requirements in the Canberra market.
Overall demand has remained static, with a slight increase in the availability of permanent roles being offset by a continued decrease in contract roles.

Demand for permanent staff increased slightly over the past three months (the first time in 2009). While the public sector is hiring permanent ICT staff as part of their response to the
Gershon Review’s recommendation to reduce reliance on ICT contractors, overall hiring levels remain lower than they have been over the past three years.

There was a minor spike in demand in July – August, on the back of a small number of new ICT projects being announced in the Federal Budget.

Overall however, demand for ICT contractors has remained at relatively low levels (focused on contractors with specialist IT skills).

As a consequence, there is an oversupply of contractors in the market, many of whom will relocate or accept permanent roles – which will serve to shrink the pool of available contractors in Canberra. This trend is likely to be sustained through the medium term.

Skills in demand include Java, SharePoint, SAP, Unix and Data Warehouse related skills.