Skills shortages are continuing to affect the UK's IT sector, a new report has claimed.

This is the result of growing demand for people to work in the industry coupled with a decline in the number of "ready candidates" to fill vacant positions, according to a study by e-skills UK.

Covering January to March 2010, the publication noted that available roles are becoming more prolific and recruiters are competing for candidates to fill IT jobs in the UK.

Advertised vacancies totalled 86,000 posts during the period, the third quarterly rise in a row, with demand higher for analysts and developers, as well as for skills such as Sybase, SQL and .NET.

The first quarter also saw advertised pay rates rise by up to nine per cent during the period for permanent and contract staff in the field and the number of IT professionals out of work fell to 4.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, Australian Computer World recently forecast a sharp rise in IT jobs in Australia following a sharp rise in employment during the first three months of 2010 and projects restarting again in the wake of the downturn.

Posted by Kate Griffin