Tech sector job creation climbs to new high but skills focus needed
UK technology companies’ hiring has reached a record high despite the industry reporting slower growth in business.
The tech sector UK business activity index published today by consultants KPMG and financial information firm Markit scored 55.7 for the first three months of the year. Any figure above 50 represents growth with higher scores marking faster growth.
Growth in business in the beginning of the year therefore slowed from the final three months of 2014 when the business activity index was higher at 59.6. It marks the industry’s second lowest growth in business since 2013.
However, the tech sector employment index rose to 57.8 for the first three months of the year, up from 55.3 for the final three months of 2014. It’s the fastest job creation recorded by the survey since it began in 2003.
Tudor Aw, head of technology sector at business advisory firm KPMG said the figures “continue the theme of a robust and thriving UK tech sector that outstrips the wider UK economy.
“Importantly, the sustained rise in tech business activity that we have seen in recent years has translated to reinvestment in capital expenditure and job hiring, again at a rate that has been much higher than other UK sectors. These results confirm the importance of the tech sector in helping drive growth and employment in the UK.”
“It is an important message to political parties in the upcoming General Election that the sector is worthy of support and focus, when it comes to promoting the sector and investing in Stem-based education that is so vital to meeting the demands of tomorrow’s tech businesses,” concluded Aw.
[custom id=”21″]