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November 28, 2005
| Firms look abroad as IT shortage bites |
British companies are being forced to hire IT staff from abroad, largely India, as the skills shortage in the sector reaches crisis point
Huge demand for IT workers, particularly from the public sector, has seen the number of foreign IT professionals arriving in the UK on work permits grow tenfold over the past decade, figures from the Home Office reveal.
According to the data, the number of immigrant IT workers entering the UK rose from just 1,827 in 1995 to 22,000 in the past year. Numbers have almost doubled since 2002, after the dotcom fallout and recession in the IT industry saw salaries slashed and many UK-based staff look for work in other sectors.
The vast majority (85%) of IT workers coming from abroad are from India, the Home Office claims, with US in second place accounting for just 5%.
The reliance on foreign staff has not been welcomed by UK-based recruitment agencies, which fear UK workers being squeezed out of positions in the future. “Skills shortages continue to be a major pull factor in bringing foreign IT workers to the UK, but the concern is that some organisations may be taking advantage of the visa system to import cheap labour from abroad,” Ann Swain, chief executive of the Association of Technology Staffing Companies (ATSCo) told the Financial Times.
ATSCo claims many of the workers coming to the UK are being recruited in India for far cheaper wages than are on offer over here and then sent over to Britain to work on client projects by their company.
But Jon Butterfield, director of ReThink Recruitment, believes the top jobs will still be open to UK graduates as most of the positions on offer are at the lower end of the trade. “If you are trying to fill a role managing an older legacy system, you couldn’t even get a UK trainee to do it,” he said. “It doesn’t meet the aspirations of UK IT professionals and 90% of people coming in are back-filling these lower-grade jobs.”
Many British firms including Xansa and LogicaCMG have recently opened offices in India, while Indian companies Wipro Technologies, Infosys and Tata Consulting Services have brought staff over to the UK.
“The UK, like other developing countries, is facing a skills shortage,” said Sunil Mehta, vice president of India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies. “If current economic rates are to be maintained, it must either import people or export the work to countries that have the talent.”
Posted by Mark at November 28, 2005 11:26 AM