IT jobs market to continue boom through 2008 says Peoplebank boss

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 02 January 2008 02:47

IT People - Recruitment

The outlook for jobs in the technology sector will continue to be strong for at least the next 18 months with no indications that a US recession will cause a downturn, according to the head of Australia's largest IT&T recruiter.

Leon Lau, managing director of Peoplebank, told iTWire that the company is optimistic and bullish about IT employment for both 2008 and 2009. What's more, IT employment will be strong in both the Government and private sectors.

"There are lots of projects that we know are coming on stream and we're expecting to get a pretty good share of that so we are very confident for 2008 and 2009," said Mr Lau.

"About one third of our revenue will come from Government and two thirds will be from corporate."

Mr Lau dismissed possible concerns about the spectre of rising interest rates and a looming US recession having a dampening effect on IT employment in the immediate future.

"Essentially, a lot of the projects that we will benefit from in the next 12 to 18 months have already had money allocated to them from profits that have been made over the last couple of years," said Mr Lau.

"There is always a lag time for us. If there is going to be a major recession or anything like that, we would get six to 12 months warning."

Peoplebank, listed on the ASX, became Australia's largest technology recruiter when it acquired major IT&T recruitment agency Ambit in December 2007 for AUD$100 million. The combined company will have annual revenues of more than AUD$500 million.

According to Mr Lau, there is now "day light" between Peoplebank and the other major recruiters such as Candle IT&T, Hays, Finite, Paxus and Greythorn. Mr Lau agreed that there is a possibility that further consolidation could take place in the industry over the coming year.