Stan Beer
Thursday, 05 March 2009 04:53
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
The boss of one of Australia's largest ICT recruiters says the much
delayed National Broadband Network could provide hundreds of desperately
needed ICT jobs. ICT project managers are being let go by the hundreds
across Australia and recruiters are looking to the Telecoms sector to
keep the market afloat with projects like the NBN.
According to
David Stewart, CEO of Candle
ICT, research from the Candle's parent the Clarius Group shows that the
ICT job market is generally shrinking but there are pockets where it is
still strong.
"There are basically only a couple of sectors where the demand
for jobs is still coming through and those are the Telco and Government
infrastructure services," Mr Stewart told iTWire.
"There is no doubt that the NBN would provide a huge boost for jobs. I
would think it would be in the hundreds," Mr Stewart said.
The increasingly precarious state of the ICT jobs market is putting
increased pressure on the Federal Government to bring projects like the
much delayed NBN online sooner rather than later.
However, the Government's emphasis on providing jobs through spending
on infrastructure appears to be at odds with its razor gang approach in
Canberra, where its adoption of the Gershon Review recommendations is
decimating the ICT contracting market.
Canberra, a place where it has traditionally been hard to attract
permanent ICT workers, has in the past been a stronghold of the ICT
contracting space. The Gershon Review, which recommended that the
Government reduce contracting roles and replace them with permanent
jobs, appears to have put an end to that.
At the time the Gershon Review recommendations were adopted a number of
the largest recruiters privately expressed skepticism and misgivings
about the Government's contractor slashing approach.
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