According to one estimate, the IT and telecoms sectors will be in need of more than 129,000 new recruits by 2020 – twice that of other sector averages.
E-skills, an IT industry skills body, recently said that UK worker growth – which includes umbrella company contractors – will average out to 1.62 per cent a year until the end of the decade. However, with around 148,000 skilled workers retiring or leaving the industry, and only 19,000 coming in from an existing technology position, the gap of 129,000 positions will need to be filled by new recruits.
Independent IT contractors and freelancers could be a major source for the IT industry over the next eight years, the industry body added, with e-skills remarking that ‘higher value areas’ such as security, web development, risk management, change management, business process, systems architecture, and project management will have the highest levels of demand within the overall IT/telecoms sectors. Many of these positions may be outsourced offshore as a cost-cutting measure, leading to challenges for permanent workers in the UK, but the industry body said that temporary and contract workers could see opportunities increase.
Employers looking to control costs but still bring benefits to the UK economy are enthusiastic about using freelancers and umbrella company contractors because this offers them a way to minimise their economic investiture, as an interim worker costs much less than permanent one. The flexibility of temporary contractor workers also means that employers can tailor their workforce to closely match their needs, hiring more or less for a project as needed.
