A new report from KPMG and the REC has revealed rising demand for both permanent and temporary IT workers during January.

Adjusted for seasonality, the IT and computing permanent vacancies index registered well above the neutral 50.0 level at 61.1 in January.

Although this was consistent with a sharp rise in demand, the latest figure was the lowest seen in 28 months.

Across the 10 monitored job categories, IT and computing was the third best-performing sector for permanent staff vacancies and continued to outperform the UK average (59.2).

Similar to permanent vacancies, temporary vacancies in IT increased at a softer pace in January. The respective index posted 56.3, down from 58.0 in December, to the joint-slowest rise in demand for 28 months in January. The increase in short-term IT vacancies was also softer than seen for temp staff as a whole across the UK (58.5).

Ian West, head of technology, media and telecoms at KPMG UK said: “While hiring continued at pace across most areas of the economy, it is clear that the industry is suffering from a skills shortage, with recruiters struggling to meet demand for roles.

“Such shortages are driving employers to really look at their 'grow your own' strategies both from an acquisition of talent perspective and via structured development programmes.”

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