The Olivier Internet Job Index, which measures the number of jobs advertised on Internet job sites, found that IT job ads remained relatively steady, falling by less than one percent from March to April.
Robert Olivier, director of Olivier Recruitment, told ZDNet Australia the fact that the Index did not record a double digit fall was an "encouraging signal". He said Easter always had a negative effect on the recruitment process, and the war with Iraq created a lot of uncertainty, so the fact that job ads remained steady was a positive sign.
"If you're bumping along the bottom then you've got no further to fall," said Olivier. The overall index rose from 96.16 to 97.71.
Two of the IT job areas that did record a rise, Database Development and Administration (21.54 - 25.21) and Desktop Support and Helpdesk (25.65 - 30.46), may have done so because of a reluctance from corporations to update their infrastructure, according to Olivier.
"If you're holding back on capital expenditure it affects the amount of administration and support," said Olivier. Warning that he was just guessing, Olivier pointed out that companies haven't committed to big value projects such as system upgrades, but the old systems tend to fall apart anyway.
The other area that recorded a significant gain was Hardware Engineering Systems (26.09 - 31.99).
