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Australian IT recruiters meanwhile point to a slowdown in demand for IT skills, as is usual at this time of the year. However for some months, analysis of supply and demand for IT skills have pointed to a pretty balanced market.
That balance however could be challenged if a flood of ex-pats or Europeans looking for work land back in Australia in the new year.
Some local companies say they are already being approached. Jim McKerlie, executive chairman of the Bullseye group said that in the last few months the company had experienced; 'A pretty constant source of inquiries from expats who have lost their jobs, or their budgets have tightened and the business is doing it tough.'
Mr McKerlie said that the company now used social networks to make sure news that it was hiring reached Europe. 'It's happened over the last 12 months. We started to see this in the GFC, but the trend is now strengthening.'
Ian Hodge, managing director of Quest Software said that he was also seeing a number of enquiries, mainly from Quest subsidiaries, and largely from the UK, about the opportunities to work in Australia. 'I've had several of them and I've never struck it before,' said Mr Hodge who said that it was clearly the economy in Europe that was prompting the trend.
And it's not just ex-pats coming home. Mr McKerlie said Bullseye had around 20 people on 457 visas and 75 per cent of them were European or North American. He said salary expectations had also modified as a result of the international economic conditions.
'You can offer then an Australian salary and that's perfectly acceptable - if you went back five years ago when the pound was strong it would be another story. In the past you had to offer them the top end to attract them - that's not the case now we are getting a lot of inquiries particularly from the UK.'
