The Ashdown Group Jobs Index (AGJI) tracks the number of advertised permanent jobs at the Ashdown Group and the leading Internet job boards within the IT, Marketing, Accountancy and HR sectors. Data is compiled throughout the month and released in the first few days of the following month.

September 28th 2010:
8830
points

Change since August

Headline Figure:

Demand for accountancy, information technology and human resources staff grew during September. Marketing saw a small dip with a -0.06% drop in the number of jobs advertised.  The Ashdown Group Job Index is at its highest point, now standing up 3.04% at 8830.

Summary - The Job Market Remains Robust but Growth is Slowing

In September the number of advertised IT jobs grew by 5.03%.  The Accountancy job market rose for the 5th consecutive month, this time by 0.13%.  Demand for human resources staff leapt by 4.65%.  The number of jobs advertised in the Marketing sector fell by -0.06%.

Short-term and medium range forecast from John Lynes, Director of the Ashdown Group: 

'On the face of things the job market is looking resilient, there are over a third more jobs being advertised now than this time last year. All sectors are performing significantly better than a year ago with IT standing out as the shining example with staggering growth of 47% over the last 12 months.

'From a seasonal perspective, we would expect to see an increase in demand during September.  Part way through the autumn and with all of this good news - some might be tempted to pop the odd Champagne cork. To temper this good feeling, we are proceeding with a sense of caution as business confidence may be starting to wane.

'My short term forecast for October and November is to see demand stabilize with little further growth in the run up to Christmas. I do not envisage any significant growth or decline.'

IT Recruitment Market Analysis

'A leap in demand for IT staff has maintained the upward trend. We have seen modest growth in demand within the IT infrastructure department; in contrast 72% of the IT vacancies registered at the Ashdown Group during September were in the field of web based application development.

'Java, ASP.Net and C# development skills remain in high demand but an interesting development is the 15% increase in salaries for LAMP developers over the past year. Market share and business adoption of PHP software is growing and with it the demand for staff is increasing. This is putting upward pressure on salaries and will likely strengthen the contract market for these skills.

'We predict a surge in demand for internet based Smart phone applications through 2011 and believe this will continue to provide a number of challenges for web developers.

'The ‘Smartphone’ market is driving up demand for software developers and marketers with expertise in this area. With an array of mobile device operating systems and browsers to choose from, any rendering or compatibility issues are creating a short term market for expertise in overcoming these problems.

'Medium term demand for infrastructure support staff is predicted to fall off as sales of servers decline and VMware sales dropped by -3% during Q3.

'We predict demand for web based software developers to remain strong; we will see a strengthening contract market and increased salaries for the foreseeable future.'

Marketing Recruitment Market Analysis

'Marketing was pretty flat during September, showing a drop of -0.06%. With more spending heading online over Christmas, we continue to predict growth in online marketing channels with SEO recruitment climbing steeply and online marketing leading the way.

'According to the Bellwether report, Q3 marketing and ad spending rose with the largest increase being seen online and through search marketing. This information closely reflects our job data.

'An interesting observation to be made from this post recession period is that businesses appear to be continuing their emphasis on direct response marketing and have chosen not to venture as enthusiastically into TV, sales promotion and media ad spending.'

HR Recruitment Market Analysis

'The downturn in HR jobs seen in August has been wiped out as the HR job market rebounded in September with a 4.65% increase in HR vacancies.

'The human resources sector has had a fairly turbulent time of things over the past 6 months, with demand lurching around. The overall effect of the ups and downs over the past 6 months equate to a fairly flat level of demand when the data is smoothed out.

'My opinion is that businesses have not settled post recession and confidence has yet to fully return - generally we are seeing a robust response to tricky conditions.

'My prediction is that the demand for HR personnel over the coming months will stay fairly static.'

HR Recruitment Market Analysis

'After a great run, the rate of growth in demand for Accountancy staff has come to a standstill. In light of a deluge of negative media sentiment, it is a positive sign that the level of demand has not fallen.

'There have been five consecutive months of growth in the Accountancy job market with the demand for accountancy personnel standing at the highest level since the Ashdown Group Job Index began. Greatest demand within the Ashdown Group has been for qualified Financial and Management Accountants, with a slow down in demand for unqualified accounts support staff.'

Conclusion: 

'An interesting observation over the past three months is that there are pockets of high demand for certain skill sets with a shortfall in supply; these include most web based development skills in the IT sector, and online and search engine optimization (SEO) based expertise within the Marketing sector.'

'We predict a strong contract market developing for those marketers with experience of internet marketing strategies. Web based software developers will also continue to enjoy a strong contract market for the foreseeable future.'

'Data has been fairly mixed, with some gainers and some fallers within each sector, the overall effect is a gradual climb in demand for professional services staff.'

'We are pleased to see that the job market has reacted robustly in the face of much negative sentiment.'