Job vacancies in the IT sector are fast outpacing financial services jobs throughout the UK, according to research.
A study by accountants Nixon Williams found that the number of IT specialist firms increased 7% to 143,450, from 133,555 last year.
The research also revealed that the number of IT jobs jumped to 459,000 this year, a 13% increase from the 403,000 roles in 2009, as total jobs across the UK economy grew 3.1% to 25 million.
By contrast, the number of jobs in the financial service sector, which often competes with tech firms for the best talent, dropped 16% to 986,000 this year from 1,178,000 in 2009.
Martin Brennan, Practice Manager of Nixon Williams, says the UK IT sector has seen its strongest year of growth since the recession.
He said: "The need to rebalance the economy away from financial services became apparent during the financial crisis, and these latest figures show that the UK tech sector is rising to the challenge."
He added: "Talent that might have previously gravitated towards financial services is now just as likely to be looking for equity in a tech start up – something which has not been seen on this scale since the dot com boom. This is particularly true in London, where a lot of talent has poured into tech startups that might otherwise have found a home in traditionally high-paying banking sector jobs."
"Despite the creation of new permanent roles, contracting continues to grow in popularity. One of the reasons for this is likely to be the erosion of job security and benefits for employees over the last few years, which has made contracting seem more appealing by comparison."
