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Quarterly data from specialist IT recruitment site CWJobs.co.uk has shown that in the second quarter of 2013 both permanent (0.7%) and contract (1.3%) IT jobs have shown growth across all UK regions.

Whilst London’s ‘Tech City’ initiative is proving successful, and driving established companies and start-ups to set up in the East London area, this new data indicates that other clusters of technologies firms in the UK could be driving nationwide growth.

Year-on-year, vacancies in London have seen modest growth with 9,886 job vacancies posted in the quarter, a rise of 2.4% on the year.  Vacancies across Scotland (7.9%), Southern England (4.6%) and the West and Wales (3.1%) are leading regional growth, providing opportunities for professionals working outside of the capital city.

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.

Richard Nott, Website Director, CWJobs, stated: “As investment in technology firms increases, there is less need for professionals to be based in the capital city, giving professionals the opportunity to work across many different regions.  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.”

IT Permanent Job Advertising by Region

Region

Quarter

Quarter

Quarter

Quarter

Quarter

2/2013

2/2012

2/2011

2/2010

2/2009

Inner London

9,886

9,654

8838

6,714

5,736

Outer London

23,365

22,675

20571

17,859

14,899

Southern England

27,421

26,223

24261

18,929

15,944

West & Wales

7,997

7,760

7372

6,425

5,813

East Midlands

5,901

5,745

5728

4,958

4,702

West Midlands

3,789

3,711

3774

3,592

3,654

North West

4,274

4,237

4317

4,068

4,346

North East

2,833

2,852

3155

3,192

3,691

Scotland

1,895

1,756

1729

1,718

1,997

 

Driven by ongoing developments in e-commerce, the retail and manufacturing sectors have seen the greatest increase in IT vacancies in the last quarter – growing 8.5% and 9.3% retrospectively. The growth of software houses has slowed slightly on the quarter, rising just 2.7% between Q2 2013 and Q2 2012.

IT Permanent Job Advertising by Industry

Industry

Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter

2/2013

2/2012

2/2011

2/2010

2/2009

Electr’s/Communicationss

2,955

2,857

3008

3369

3368

Software Houses/Consultancies

48,217

46,938

43362

34303

30593

Finance

15,993

15,621

14647

13317

10753

Retail

2,704

2,493

2412

1987

1785

Media

3,246

3,065

3026

2558

2516

Manufacturing

1,675

1,532

1548

1316

1540

Public Sector

562

584

681

1249

1602

 

Skills within the industry are also evolving, and the latest data has shown greater demand for professionals skilled in ASP and .Net, whilst previous high-in-demand skills, such as SQL, HTML, and C have seen decreases across permanent roles.

Demand for .NET in particular has seen unprecedented demand, driven by growing numbers of web-based services and applications, as more businesses move to operate online.

IT Permanent Software skills advertised

Software

Quarter

Quarter

Quarter

Quarter

Quarter

Quarter

2/2013

1/2013

4/2012

3/2012

2/2012

1/2012

SQL

19,875

20,142

20,660

20,960

20,853

21,143

C#

14,192

14,073

13,901

13,780

13,549

13,629

C

13,179

13,661

13,781

14,201

15,387

15,794

.NET

13,157

12,932

12,780

12,388

12,271

12,354

JAVA

10,373

10,300

10,138

9,856

9,382

9,372

ASP

9,001

8,918

8,918

8,334

8,217

8,359

SQL SERVER

8,289

8,788

8,824

9,079

8,949

9,069

JAVASCRIPT

7,102

7,065

6,983

6,948

6,887

6,985

AGILE

6,843

6,735

6,702

6,441

6,272

6,243

HTML

6,672

6,724

6,670

6,570

6,447

6,403