UK tech sector experiences spike in demand

Despite the Coronavirus crisis having a negative impact on many sectors, the UK’s tech industry is continuing to see a significant rise in demand.

In Q1, contract roles within the tech sector were up by 48.27% (permanent vacancies up by 32.56%) compared to the same time last year.

Ahsan Iqbal, director of technology at Robert Walters commented, “At the moment, the tech sector has experienced a spike in demand and so – unlike other industries such as aerospace – no immediate impact has been felt regarding hiring freezes.

“The UK was already pioneering work within healthtech and edtech, and now more than ever this will be put to the test. In addition, technology that underpins remote working – such as cloud computing, business apps, mobile tools, unified communications, project management tools, and video conferencing – will be no doubt be rapidly hiring as demand for their tools increase.”

Iqbal added, “Retailers who didn’t invest in e-commerce will be going through a difficult period right now, and will have to assess whether they have the resources to be able to enhance this for future, competitive purposes. Of the tech roles advertised in the last four weeks, 13% of these were in trade or retail.

“Other areas of opportunity will be in insurtech, supply chain and agritech – as after health these are some of the industries experiencing the highest level of demand.”

To find out more about contracting please contact Jaime on 01442 795 100 or email jaime.thorpe@contractorumbrella.com.