NBN ramp up generating severe IT skill shortages, slashes labour pool

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 27 July 2010 14:49

IT People - Recruitment

A hiring ramp up by NBN Co has already put the Australian skilled labour market under strain, with ICT personnel being snapped up like hotcakes, according to a new survey. In the past three months, the available skilled ICT labour pool has shrunk by a massive 80%.

Shortages of Business Analysts and IT support staff are emerging as general business activity begins to pick up and NBN Co starts ramping up its hiring activity, according to the latest Clarius Skills Index released today.

The June quarter Clarius Skills Index – developed by KPMG Econtech and the only measure of underlying demand and supply of skilled labour in Australia - shows there were just 319 skilled ICT personnel available, compared to three months ago when there were 1,525 professional available. That represents an 80% reduction in available candidates.

This resulted in an Index reading of 100.2 and suggests that employers are facing difficulty in finding appropriately skilled employees. A score of 100 indicates equal tension between labour supply and demand. Anything greater than 100 indicates a skills shortage.

The index for Computing Professionals is the highest of all professional occupations.

Here’s a state breakdown as well:

ACT

More contract positions coming onto the market than previous 2 years during this 3 month period as new projects get underway.

For Federal govt, implementation of the Gershon review recommendations remain high on the list of priorities. The looming announcement of an election is also very much on the client radar at the moment.

VIC

Due to projects being shelved in 2009 calendar year, there has been a dramatic increase in business analyst requirements (particularly in contracting) which has makes it difficult to source and attract permanent Business analysts.

In VIC, NAB is a major higher of staff and has been ramping up it NextGen Project as has the National Broadband Network (NBN) and so architect, solution designer and BA rates and salaries are increasing substantially.

As business confidence increases, observed as project investment funding released, the ability to attract and retain permanent staff continues to be a challenge.  Candidates know they can achieve much higher rates through contracting than permanent.

WA

Project Manager and Business market is buoyant.  Companies not prepared to pay candidate shortage rates.  Clients still not quite as aware of the candidate shortages and are not as open to look at candidates from other states.

SA

No real changes here.  Good networking staff and Sharepoint consultants are hard to find.