IT contractor pay in 2012 defied the downturn

Pay for the bulk of IT contractors over the last 12 months defied the economic downturn, as more than half managed to keep their rates steady and almost a third managed an increase – of 10 per cent or greater.

In its annual survey into the technology workforce, recruiter Mortimer Spinks found that - among IT contractors - only 13 per cent have been told to lower their daily or hourly rate.

Fifty-five per cent of the IT contractors kept their rates intact and avoided a dip, trumped by 32 per cent who reported an increase – half of whom are being paid at least 10 per cent more than the previous year.

Indicating clients will go far beyond inflation to attract or retain such contractors, 23 per cent of the web developers and 39 per cent of the architects have been permitted to bump up their pay by 11 per cent and upwards. Web developers are the most likely contractors to have secured a rate rise in 2012, closely followed by Architects, shows the study, which analysed almost 20 contract IT jobs, ranging from Helpdesk up to CTO.

However, more than half of the IT contractors reported an “increase in the responsibilities of the role they perform”, most acutely for contract programme and project managers – as clients demand more time and responsibilities.

This has been supported by an active IT Contractor market. Leading IT jobsite Technojobs  have seen a very busy 2012 for IT contract advertising.  A spokesman for Technojobs claimed: “Despite some economic uncertainty IT contract staff are still very much in demand. There is continuing investments in larger scale IT projects that have helped to ensure that contract opportunities for the highly skilled is strong.  Developers, Analysts and Project Managers are very much in demand.”