IT executive jobs buck the trend in August

Peter Dinham
Thursday, 01 September 2011 21:02

IT People - People

The IT sector is a bright light amidst the gloomy picture of the current executive job market in Australia, with the demand for IT and executives increasing in August, bucking the trend in other business and industry sectors which suffered significant falls.

The demand for IT executives surged to gain 23 per cent last month, nearly making up for the 24 per cent loss in July to extend its recent saw tooth performances, according to the latest executive jobs demand index published today by executive search firm, E.L.Consult.

In an exact opposite result from the prior month (July), E.L.Consult says the strength in IT executive jobs demand came from both the government and business sectors, with the business sector significantly higher in the ACT, Victoria and New South Wales. However, it says that the Western Australia and Queensland also joined the party in August to turn in a positive result.

The demand surge in IT contrasts with the overall executive demand index falling by a further two percent in August to its lowest level so far this year.

And, it was the IT sector that prevented an even more severe loss in demand across the board, with the increased demand for IT executives - driven by gains in New South Wales - having a positive impact at a time when there's a lot of uncertainty in the market about the economy.

E.L.Consult's managing director, Grant Montgomery, characterises the current market as a 'sea of uncertainty and no recovery in sight,' and says that the loss in executive demand would have been 'far more severe except for an increase in Information Technology, which was driven by gains in demand in New South Wales (NSW).'

Montgomery says that the surging demand in IT in NSW, in the public sector, was driven by the state government's attempts (to) drive up productivity. 'However, every other sector in the NSW public sector fell as that government makes hiring cuts.'

'Overall it is an unimpressive result in all sectors except for IT. The trend with Australian executive hiring looks unlikely to shift upwards for the next six months.'

E.L.Consult found that all sectors, except for the Financial and Information Technology sectors, fell in August compared with July, when both the financial and IT sectors led the falls, and it observes that the Information Technology index remains in the (broad) trading range first established in mid'2010.

Ominously, Montgomery says that the outlook with Australian executive market is 'trending downwards and this could continue for the next six months.'

'The macroeconomic environment is quite concerning. Interest rates are at global highs, the Australian currency is near post-float highs and most developed economies are continuing to slow. The microeconomic situation is no better. Consumer sentiment is low, housing starts are struggling to get up a head of steam, manufacturing is on the nose and retail sales are flat.'

According to Montgomery, while Australia's GDP numbers remain positive thanks to the mining boom, there are signs that the domestic economy particularly outside mining is on a declining curve.

'In such an environment we are likely to see further falls in executive demand up to the end of 2011 and into 2012, whereupon we expect to see some signs of recovery in the executive demand market.'