The economic downturn has seen a slip in local IT jobs with only 38.6 percent of companies intending to increase staff numbers in the next quarter compared to 58.1 percent in the past three months.
Recruitment company TMP's quarterly Job Index, which surveyed 6,328 employers nationally, indicates that this is a 19.5 percent downturn from the corresponding period last year.
The statistics come just days after the Olivier Internet Job Index for April showed a 21.8 percent decline in the number of jobs advertised in multimedia, down from 15.8 percent the previous month.
According to today's data, the largest IT declines emanated from the two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, according to TMP director of technology recruitment, Ian James.
"35.9 percent of NSW IT employers will be hiring new staff in the next quarter," James said. "This is down 21.1 percent over the previous survey and 30.2 percent over the November 2000 survey."
In Victoria 36.1 percent of IT employers intend to create new jobs in the following three months. This is down 19.8 percent over the prior survey and 37.9 percent over the November 2000 survey, James said.
The survey found that Queensland IT employers are going against the national trend, with 73.9 percent of companies proposing new jobs will be in the pipeline is recorded. This is an increase of 28.6 percent on the previous survey.
The survey also found that large IT employers, those with more than 200 staff members, are more concerned about the current ecomonic climate than any other organisational size.
17.2 percent said they intended to create new IT positions - down 31 percent over the previous survey and 44.3 percent over the November 2000 quarter.
Medium sized firms, on the other hand, are most confident with a 48.9 percent increase in jobs on the horizon - down 11.4 percent on the previous quarter.
