Finally surveys agree: IT&T jobs on the rise - but how much?

Stan Beer
Monday, 09 June 2008 07:35

IT People - Enterprise

After three months of disparate findings, the two most widely used IT jobs indicators in Australia are finally in agreement - jobs are on the rise. However, there is significant disagreement over the level of growth.

The more pessimistic of the two surveys, the Olivier Report, from general recruiter Olivier Group, has found that IT&T jobs grew 1.58% in May. However, Olivier claims that the sector has recorded only 7.83% growth over the past year which has slowed over the past 3 months.

The sector appears to have plateaued after steady growth over the past 2 years, according to Olivier.

In contrast, the far more bullish Best IT Talent Index from specialist IT&T recruiter Best People Solutions, has found that the IT&T jobs market has grown 3% over the past month.

Two possible sources of the continued disparity between the recruiters' findings have been identified.

Olivier uses seasonally adjusted data to normalise its findings, while Best uses raw data. Best argues that using seasonally adjusted figures for months other than the holiday season months of December, January and possibly February, is meaningless.

The other possible source of disparity are the respective sources jobs data that recruiters use. Best uses data exclusively from Australia's dominant jobs board Seek, while Olivier takes its data from Seek and smaller rival boards My Career and Career One.