The information technology and telecommunications sector rose from 39.51 percent in April to 41.93 percent in May. However, director of the Olivier group, Bob Olivier, says the figures that have been released are seasonally adjusted to reflect the year's trends, and that in "raw terms" the sector is actually up 6.1 percentage points.
According to Olivier, the best performing sector in the IT & T job index was desktop support and helpdesk employment, which was up by 21.62 percent (or 11.97 percentage points).
Runner up in the most improved statistics was system administration and support, according to Olivier, with an increase of 20.09 percent (or 8.44 percentage points).
Olivier says the results run contrary to arguments by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) regarding the lack of jobs due to the practice of off-shoring.
"My read on this is that the catalyst for the growth in the IT sector has been at the lower end of the pay scale. And this flies in the face of ACS's big drama about off-shoring," said Olivier.
According to Olivier, the "less complex roles" in IT have experienced consistent growth in the last six months, which, he says, further contradicts the ACS argument about off-shoring.
"They [the ACS] would say that the jobs that would be going overseas would be the volume work, like support and helpdesk, but the statistics show they're not" said Olivier.
The Internet Job Index reported a decrease in the multimedia index and graphic design sector by 6.45 percent, however, Olivier says the decline is minimal.
"It's such a small base and a small category. It's [the result] a bit of an abhor ration as it's been growing throughout the year," said Olivier.
However, a statement released by the Olivier Group today said "this easing off [in the multimedia sector] may add further evidence to the Australian Computer Society's concerns that jobs are flowing out of Australia".
The instruction/training/writing sector also reported a loss of 2.25 percentage points. All other sectors showed improvement.
