In the same quarter that the Government announced public sector job cuts as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review, research from CWJobs and JobAdsWatch.co.uk shows public sector job postings have decreased by 36% since the first quarter of 2010.

The previous quarter’s data revealed that despite a 21% drop in the number of public sector IT jobs advertised, contract work in the public sector remained relatively buoyant. However this quarter’s results show a 29% decrease in contract public sector work, signifying a change in IT investment in this sector. Despite this, the overall demand for IT professionals has increase in each quarter of 2010.

An industry breakdown shows that contractual public sector IT jobs have dropped one place into third, moving media IT jobs up to second place.

The third quarter of 2010 saw little change in skills in demand, with SQL, C and C#, holding the top spots

Richard Nott, Website Director of CWJobs comments, “This continues to be a challenging time for IT jobseekers, particularly in the public sector. However overall, CWJobs has seen an 8% increase in demand for IT professionals on the website over the last quarter, which is promising. Those candidates who are willing to stand out from the crowed, be creative and get skilled-up will go the distance.”