Brexit uncertainty sees a boom for IT consultants

The current uncertainty over Britain’s Brexit deal appears to be paying dividends for contractors; especially those in the IT sector. According to the REC’s latest Report on Jobs, demand for IT contractors stands at 60.1, up from 59.1 in February. This is the highest reading on a national index since January 2016.

Over the course of our Thrive blog series, we speculated that Brexit could bring new opportunities and developments for independent professionals. In times of uncertainty, many larger businesses turn to contractors who can be taken on and let go as the level of risk requires. This appears to be the case for UK IT contractors following the triggering of Article 50, who are now seeing a boost in the market.

This boom in demand seems to have arrived for two reasons. The first is from key shortages of appropriately skilled, willing and able candidates in the full-time IT market. These shortages began to arise before the EU referendum. Secondly, Brexit-induced economic uncertainty and a lack of clarity concerning future prospects are having a detrimental effect on permanent employee’s willingness to change careers.

“Many [employers] are [therefore] reporting an increasing number of white-collar jobs as hard to fill, including in the IT and financial sectors.”
REC chief executive Kevin Green

Many employers are turning to contractors and boosting their rates to get the skills and expertise they need – great news for those of us in the IT sector. We expect we’ll soon be seeing similar booms across a variety of markets.