Victorian demand for ICT professionals marginally improved during the first half of 2003, "but it is still a buyer's market" and employers are pushing down salaries while looking for more broadly skilled candidates, according to the Victorian government's ICT Skills Snapshot for the first half of 2003.

Average Victorian ICT remuneration fell 7.8 percent from the previous year, leaving salaries and contracting rates slightly below the national average at AU$74,468 ($74,560 nationally) and $45 per hour ($46).

The worst affected roles were hardware engineer, management consultant, project planner, project engineer, communications specialist, data analyst, senior software engineer, system integrator and trainer. Salaries for these roles fell by over 10 percent.

The only roles experiencing a salary increase greater than five percent were development manager, quality engineer, co-ordinator and support officer.

Despite the flat demand and reduced salaries, there was still a net inflow of 1458 ICT professionals into Victoria. People already resident in the state filled 87 percent of vacancies.

Specific technology skills expected to be in demand during the next 12 months include wireless (especially GSM and broadband CDMA, so there is hope for those still unemployed following the closure of Ericsson's Melbourne research lab); Java, J2EE, ColdFusion, .NET and XML; Linux; Web Services; mid-tier CRM and ERP; storage; and instant messaging.

More generally, demand is predicted in the areas of security and risk management, business process re-engineering, and business intelligence.

"Feedback from educational institutions suggests that employers can sometimes send mixed messages -- requesting university graduates (with a broader skill set), but in reality wanting (technical) skills generally provided by TAFE courses," said the report.

The profile of the Victorian IT profession is changing, with fewer jobs in the metropolitan area and more in the regions, fewer males and more females employed, and an increasing proportion of vacancies offering contract rather than permanent employment.

Victoria remains the largest provider of university ICT education with 34 percent of national enrolments and 36 percent of 2002 graduates, yet the state only accounts for 25 percent of the national demand for IT professionals.

Nearly 5,000 people completed undergraduate ICT degrees in 2,000 and 2001, yet only 4,300 of Victoria's ICT professionals are under 25 years of age. The report concludes that not all of those graduates are taking up ICT positions, though some of the discrepancy could be explained by people returning to their home state or country after graduation. Over 10,000 overseas students were enrolled in Victorian ICT courses in 2002.

Employers are often said to favour recent graduates because they have the latest skills and do not expect high salaries, but the report noted that sometimes their skills are too new, for example offering Windows XP skills at a time when many sites are still running 2000 or NT.

"Although there have been some down times, the great news is that the Snapshot confirms the long-term strength of the ICT industry," said Marsha Thomson, Minister for Information and Communication Technology.

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