Published on the 11/06/2015 | Written by Beverley Head
Demand for Australian IT executives slumped by 17 per cent in May, while the overall job trend is slowing across the nation and consumer sentiment has slumped…
The E.L. Executive Demand Index, considered a leading indicator of future trends paints a grim picture for Australian IT.
Released this week the June report shows that while overall executive demand dropped 10 percent during the previous month of May, demand for IT executives experienced an acute plunge – down 17 percent compared to the previous month, and down for the second month in a row.
What’s more, IT executive demand experienced the greatest monthly drop – with demand for finance executives in second slot with a 15 percent monthly drop. Only engineering experienced a positive move – up a sclerotic 1 percent.
The Australian economy overall seems to be treading water. The ANZ Job Index which was also released this week noted that job ads overall were flat in May compared to a 2.5 percent increase in April. The index also noted that the long term trend was for a gradual slowdown in demand since last October with business cautious about the outlook.
That caution was justified today with the release of the ANZ Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence statistics which showed that confidence fell 1.2 percent which is likely to impact enterprise investment and hiring plans.
Grant Montgomery, managing director of search firm E.L. Consult which funds the E.L. Index said that the fall in demand in the index this month was an early warning that the Australian economy and IT skills demand will continue to show weakness over coming months. “The general trend is for the E.L Index to run three months ahead of the general economy.”
He acknowledged that the recent Budget, which allows instant tax write downs for investment of up to $20,000 by small business, might spur spending. However, given the small business focus, this is unlikely to have any significant impact on IT employment trends.
Peoplebank also released its quarterly IT salary survey this week, and said that while there was still demand for IT professionals in a range of roles, particularly in NSW, salaries and contract rates just held steady in all States and Territories, except for Western Australia where there was some rate erosion.
