IT& jobs market devastated by worst ever plunge in January

Stan Beer
Saturday, 07 February 2009 02:42

IT Industry - Market

The IT&T jobs market has fallen off a cliff in January, falling further than the overall jobs market. The figures for January completed a dismal year for the technology jobs sector which since 2003 had been slowly recovering since the post Y2K and dot com busts.

Recruiter Olivier Group's monthly Olivier Job Index, a measure of jobs from professional sectors advertised on major jobs boards across Australia, recorded a 12.6% fall in online job ads in January.

This is the biggest fall recorded by the Index since its inception in 2000 and there are now just two thirds of the job ads there were at this time last year, with 35.26% fewer jobs advertised, nationally.

According to Olivier, IT&T job ads fell 16.7% in January and 48% over 12 months.

The only bright spot in the devastating I&T decline was drop of just 6.83% in the ACT.

“A permanent job in Canberra may be welcome sanctuary for IT&T people,” says Robert Olivier, a director of Olivier Group.

Over the past year the big sectors of "software development & engineering” (-49%) and ‘sales & marketing’ (-54%) have recorded significant falls. The least effected sector has been ‘system administration & support’ roles which only fell -24% over 12 months.

The resources boom appears to be over with WA figures continuing a downward spiral. WA was the worst performing state for IT&T jobs in January.

Despite the data being seasonally adjusted all sectors fell as 2009 began, with white collar employment hit hardest.

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