It’s been a good year for IT contractors, freelancers, and umbrella service workers, as the information technology sector has seen major pay gains in 2012.
Whether you’re a system architect, data analyst, or a project manager, you’re likely to have seen your hourly pay go up this year according to industry figures. In fact, the average increase in pay was found to be at least 6 per cent, well above the inflation rate – something rather rare in the current economic situation that exists in the UK.
However, it’s not necessarily coming up all roses for the freelancing industry at large. While there were bright spots for umbrella company contractors and freelancers in professional IT positions, overall average hourly rates are down. When taken together as an entire sector, the IT contracting industry pays around 3.3 percentage points less than it did in 2011, official figures say – much of which can be blamed on a high supply of IT professionals with a limited number of actual positions available, though slackening inflation and the advent of Agency Worker Regulations may have also played strong roles.
While some economic experts feel that IT contractors getting paid less mean that companies have less demand for their specialised skills, industry insiders point out that with the economy slowly beginning to recover businesses may begin hiring on permanent workers once again. Even if this is the case, the need for qualified interim workers such as umbrella company contractors and freelancers will not be diminished completely, experts add.
