Given the demand for contract and permanent ICT staff, it should come as no surprise that there is always movement in these industries.
In fact, the second quarter of 2015 was no different, according to statistics from the Information Technology Contract and Recruitment Association’s (ITCRA) ICT Employment Trends Report.
Buyer’s market
Across recent quarters, the ICT contractor market has been beneficial to both professionals and businesses. This unpredictability continued this quarter with the discovery that the number of days needed to place contractors decreased over the last three months.
“Our ‘days to place’ data is a measure of demand and supply. Victoria and New South Wales have alternated from being a buyer’s to a candidate’s market each quarter,” ITCRA CEO, Julie Mills explained in a July 31 media statement.
“Currently it is shifting back to a buyer’s market as it now takes fewer days to place contractors. The national average is sitting at 30 days to place a contractor.”
In New South Wales, this rate fell from 45 days to 29 days, while Victoria saw a decrease from 42 days to 34 days. Three other states and territories including the ACT (49 to 45), Queensland (29 to 25) and Western Australia (29 to 22), also experienced a drop.
Just one state, South Australia, experienced the opposite with rates rising from 24 days to 26 days.
Hourly rate changes
Despite the ratio between permanent and contractor roles remaining at 11 per cent to 89 per cent, Ms Mills did explain an interesting trend in the contracting industry.
“At ITCRA I am hearing anecdotally of situations where employers are offering permanent roles to contractors, so this would not necessarily be evident in roles advertised,” she said.
“But this structural shift of employers and indeed contractors shifting preference to permanent is, to date, evidenced in only certain sectors and markets.”
Ms Mills added that many businesses want to build their own internal talent to ensure they don’t suffer under the current skill shortage. However, she was at pains to explain that the market trend is still to outsource contractors in a similar fashion to the global marketplace.
Across all industries, there are close to 1 million independent contractors in Australia, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. With the demand only increasing and pay rates expected to rise, this is an area of real growth.
As such, both businesses and recruiters will need to ensure their contractor management software is up to date so contractors are always paid in full and on time.
For more information on how Oncore Services can develop your HR contracting offering, contact our expert team today.
