Decrease in number of ICT professionals in govt departments

ICT shows sharpest decline of all employment groups measured in State Services Commission survey

The number of fulltime-equivalent ICT professionals and technicians employed in government departments fell by 13.5 percent in the year to June 30, 2011.

It was the biggest drop in employment groups measured by the State Services Commission Human Resources Capacity Survey.

There were 1738 ICT fulltime equivalent employees as at June 30, 2011, compared with 2009 at the corresponding date a year earlier.

The survey notes the decreases were due mainly to cuts at Inland Revenue (124), Corrections (31), Land Information New Zealand (27) and the Ministry of Education (26).

While average salaries were up 2.3 percent at $78,919, total base salary costs across all departments surveyed were down from $154 million a year previously to $137 million.

Unplanned turnover of ICT staff jumped from 8% to 16%.

The gender pay gap (based on the average male salary) increased from 7.6 percent to 9.2 percent.

The survey defines common occupations in ICT as systems analysts, business analysts, programmers, customer support officers and systems administrators.