The first part of the table below looks at the demand for MS Office skills in IT contracts advertised across the UK. Included is a guide to the average contractor rates offered in IT contracts that have cited MS Office over the 3 months to 16 May 2012 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years. The second part of the table is for comparison and provides aggregates for all of the Applications category.

Note that daily contractor rates and hourly contractor rates are treated separately. When calculating average contractor rates, daily rates are not derived from quoted hourly rates or vice versa.

Microsoft Office
Location
3 months to
16 May 2012
Same period 2011Same period 2010
Rank353536
Rank change year-on-year
No change0Up+1
Matching contract IT job ads270827272209
As % of all contract IT jobs located in the UK4.575 %4.444 %4.012 %
As % of the Applications category34.47 %34.78 %33.02 %
Number of daily rates quoted12061170829
Average daily rate£300£325£295
Average daily rate % change year-on-year
-7.69 %+10.16 %
90% of contracts offered a daily rate of more than£138£140£110
10% of contracts offered a daily rate of more than£501£550£500
UK excluding London average daily rate£268£275£225
% change year-on-year
-2.54 %+22.22 %
Number of hourly rates quoted456556468
Average hourly rate£14.50£15.00£14.50
Average hourly rate % change year-on-year
-3.33 %+3.44 %
90% of contracts offered a hourly rate of more than£10.19£10.00£9.50
10% of contracts offered a hourly rate of more than£28.00£27.50£23.50
UK excluding London average hourly rate£14.00£14.02£13.50
% change year-on-year
-0.12 %+3.83 %
IT Contractor Job Market, Applications CategoryAll Applications
UK
Contract IT job ads with a match in the
Applications category
785778406690
As % of all contract IT jobs located in the UK13.28 %12.78 %12.15 %
Number of daily rates quoted404238752923
Average daily rate£350£375£330
Average daily rate % change year-on-year
-6.66 %+13.63 %
90% of contracts offered a daily rate of more than£180£180£158
10% of contracts offered a daily rate of more than£525£575£550
UK excluding London average daily rate£310£310£255
% change year-on-year
-+21.56 %
Number of hourly rates quoted779901817
Average hourly rate£16.50£16.00£15.50
Average hourly rate % change year-on-year
+3.12 %+3.22 %
90% of contracts offered a hourly rate of more than£10.70£10.48£10.00
10% of contracts offered a hourly rate of more than£37.00£35.00£30.40
UK excluding London average hourly rate£16.50£16.00£15.00
% change year-on-year
+3.12 %+6.66 %

MS Office
Demand Trend

The chart provides the 3-month moving total of IT contractor jobs citing MS Office within the UK as a proportion of the total demand within the Applications category.

MS Office Demand Trend

MS Office
Daily Rate Trend

The chart provides the 3-month moving average for daily rates quoted in IT contract jobs citing MS Office within the UK.

MS Office Daily Rate Trend

MS Office
Daily Rate Histogram

The chart provides a histogram of daily rates quoted in contract IT jobs citing MS Office within the UK over the 3 months to 16 May 2012.

MS Office Daily Rate Histogram

MS Office
Hourly Rate Trend

The chart provides the 3-month moving average for hourly rates quoted in IT contractor jobs citing MS Office within the UK.

MS Office Hourly Rate Trend

MS Office
Hourly Rate Histogram

The chart provides a histogram of hourly rates quoted in contract IT jobs citing MS Office within the UK over the 3 months to 16 May 2012.

MS Office Hourly Rate Histogram

MS Office
Top 30 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the average contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing MS Office within the UK over the 3 months to 16 May 2012. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 3 month period last year.

LocationRank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Average
Daily Rate
Last 3 Months
Average Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
EnglandUp+12499£300-9.09 %
LondonUp+51181£350-12.50 %
South EastUp+7554£275-8.33 %
City of LondonDown-1309£375-10.97 %
East of EnglandDown-1169£206-8.33 %
South WestDown-7156£250-16.66 %
ScotlandUp+4144£275+2.80 %
BerkshireDown-4136£330+17.85 %
North WestDown-7118£200-31.62 %
West MidlandsDown-4110£300+29.03 %
YorkshireUp+5109£263+9.37 %
HampshireUp+5106£272-27.60 %
BuckinghamshireUp+391£256-25.72 %
East MidlandsDown-276£265+51.42 %
West YorkshireDown-473£275-13.72 %
SurreyDown-1072£313-9.15 %
EssexUp+1067£160+6.66 %
ReadingDown-262£425+41.66 %
EdinburghUp+460£299+19.50 %
Milton KeynesDown-759£210-39.13 %
ManchesterDown-157£200-33.33 %
HertfordshireDown-848£356+67.64 %
West SussexUp+246£361+16.53 %
WiltshireUp+942£260-25.71 %
LeedsDown-642£275-21.98 %
BristolDown-541£185-26.00 %
BirminghamDown-637£360-17.24 %
OxfordshireDown-931£200+5.26 %
GlasgowUp+630£135-58.46 %
Canary WharfUp+2529£600+36.36 %

MS Office
Top 30 Related IT Skills

For the 6 months to 16 May 2012, IT contractor jobs within the UK citing MS Office also mentioned the following IT skills in order of popularity. The figures indicate the number of jobs and their proportion against the total number of contract IT job ads sampled that cited MS Office.

12740 (52.37 %)Microsoft
22191 (41.88 %)MS Excel
32010 (38.42 %)Windows
41297 (24.79 %)Finance
51068 (20.41 %)Active Directory
6950 (18.16 %)Windows XP
7884 (16.90 %)Windows 7
8779 (14.89 %)Project Management
9689 (13.17 %)ITIL
10606 (11.58 %)MS Visio
11597 (11.41 %)MS Project
12587 (11.22 %)MS PowerPoint
13555 (10.61 %)Banking
14538 (10.28 %)SQL
15490 (9.365 %)PRINCE2
16482 (9.213 %)SharePoint
17457 (8.735 %)Citrix
18436 (8.333 %)MS Exchange
18436 (8.333 %)Windows Server 2003
19372 (7.110 %)Windows Server 2008
20353 (6.747 %)Migration
21320 (6.116 %)Blackberry
22319 (6.097 %)Security Cleared
23315 (6.021 %)SQL Server
24293 (5.600 %)HP
25291 (5.562 %)Degree
26279 (5.333 %)TCP/IP
27266 (5.084 %)Microsoft Certification
27266 (5.084 %)Oracle
28261 (4.989 %)SLA

MS Office
Top Related IT Skills by Category

For the 6 months to 16 May 2012, IT contractor jobs within the UK citing MS Office also mentioned the following IT skills grouped by category. The figures indicate the number of jobs and their proportion against the total number of contract IT job ads sampled that cited MS Office. Up to 20 skills are shown per category.

IT Contractor Job Market, Application Development CategoryApplication Development
1220 (4.205 %).NET
2124 (2.370 %)XML
3122 (2.332 %)HTML
490 (1.720 %)ASP.NET
576 (1.453 %)Web Services
653 (1.013 %)CSS
746 (0.879 %).NET Framework
834 (0.650 %)jQuery
930 (0.573 %)Windows SharePoint Services
1028 (0.535 %)COM
1125 (0.478 %)Middleware
1125 (0.478 %)J2EE
1224 (0.459 %)XSLT
1323 (0.440 %)Ajax
1421 (0.401 %)WebSphere
1517 (0.325 %)ASP
1615 (0.287 %)Application Packaging
1714 (0.268 %)WCF
1714 (0.268 %)ADO.NET
1812 (0.229 %)DHTML
IT Contractor Job Market, Application Platforms CategoryApplication Platforms
1482 (9.213 %)SharePoint
2436 (8.333 %)MS Exchange
3162 (3.096 %)Lotus Notes
4158 (3.020 %)Exchange Server 2003
5123 (2.351 %)Exchange Server 2010
6116 (2.217 %)Exchange Server 2007
7110 (2.102 %)Blackberry Enterprise Server
893 (1.778 %)SharePoint 2010
989 (1.701 %)SharePoint Server
1077 (1.472 %)IIS
1148 (0.917 %)SAS
1234 (0.650 %)Office Project Server
1331 (0.593 %)WorkSite
1428 (0.535 %)CMS
1523 (0.440 %)WebLogic
1621 (0.401 %)Lync
1720 (0.382 %)Apache
1819 (0.363 %)Documentum
1913 (0.248 %)LiveLink
1913 (0.248 %)TeamSite
IT Contractor Job Market, Applications CategoryApplications
12191 (41.88 %)MS Excel
2606 (11.58 %)MS Visio
3597 (11.41 %)MS Project
4587 (11.22 %)MS PowerPoint
547 (0.898 %)Spreadsheet
633 (0.631 %)Photoshop
731 (0.593 %)Office 365
830 (0.573 %)AutoCAD
927 (0.516 %)Adobe Illustrator
1026 (0.497 %)Acrobat
1122 (0.420 %)InfoPath
1212 (0.229 %)InDesign
139 (0.172 %)FrameMaker
139 (0.172 %)Vectorworks
148 (0.153 %)MicroStation
157 (0.134 %)Fireworks
157 (0.134 %)Open Workbench
157 (0.134 %)CINEMA 4D
166 (0.115 %)Adobe Captivate
166 (0.115 %)MATLAB
IT Contractor Job Market, Business Applications CategoryBusiness Applications
130 (0.573 %)Dynamics CRM
223 (0.440 %)Temenos Globus
322 (0.420 %)Temenos T24
415 (0.287 %)Oracle EBS R12
415 (0.287 %)assyst
514 (0.268 %)Oracle Financials
612 (0.229 %)Remedy ITSM
710 (0.191 %)SAP Oil and Gas
89 (0.172 %)Teamcenter
89 (0.172 %)Oracle Applications
98 (0.153 %)Oracle ERP
107 (0.134 %)Oracle EBS
116 (0.115 %)SAP PSCD
116 (0.115 %)Remedy AR System
116 (0.115 %)SAP HR
116 (0.115 %)SAP FI
125 (0.096 %)HiPortfolio
125 (0.096 %)Agresso
125 (0.096 %)Misys Midas
134 (0.076 %)Dynamics AX
IT Contractor Job Market, Communications & Networking CategoryCommunications & Networking
1279 (5.333 %)TCP/IP
2248 (4.740 %)LAN
3210 (4.014 %)WAN
4195 (3.727 %)Internet
5180 (3.440 %)DNS
6163 (3.115 %)VPN
7145 (2.771 %)DHCP
8112 (2.141 %)Firewall
9110 (2.102 %)SAN
1090 (1.720 %)VoIP
1165 (1.242 %)Wireless
1251 (0.975 %)Intranet
1335 (0.669 %)NAS
1335 (0.669 %)HTTP
1434 (0.650 %)3G
1533 (0.631 %)LDAP
1629 (0.554 %)Ethernet
1724 (0.459 %)IP Telephony
1724 (0.459 %)SMTP
1724 (0.459 %)MPLS
IT Contractor Job Market, Database & Business Intelligence CategoryDatabase & Business Intelligence
1315 (6.021 %)SQL Server
298 (1.873 %)Data Warehouse
394 (1.797 %)MS Access
488 (1.682 %)SQL Server 2005
573 (1.395 %)SQL Server 2008
645 (0.860 %)SQL Server Integration Services
744 (0.841 %)SQL Server Reporting Services
841 (0.784 %)Oracle 8/8i
938 (0.726 %)OLAP
1033 (0.631 %)DTS
1130 (0.573 %)Crystal Reports
1228 (0.535 %)ETL
1324 (0.459 %)Oracle Reports
1423 (0.440 %)SAP BW
1423 (0.440 %)BusinessObjects XI
1520 (0.382 %)TOAD
1619 (0.363 %)MySQL
1619 (0.363 %)SQL Server Analysis Services
1718 (0.344 %)SQL Server 2000
1817 (0.325 %)FileMaker
IT Contractor Job Market, Development Applications CategoryDevelopment Applications
158 (1.109 %)Visual Studio
220 (0.382 %)JIRA
220 (0.382 %)MSI
318 (0.344 %)Team Foundation Server
318 (0.344 %)TestDirector
416 (0.306 %)Dreamweaver
514 (0.268 %)ClearQuest
612 (0.229 %)RequisitePro
710 (0.191 %)InstallShield
89 (0.172 %)AdminStudio
89 (0.172 %)QuickTest Pro
98 (0.153 %)Selenium
98 (0.153 %)NUnit
107 (0.134 %)LabVIEW
107 (0.134 %)LoadRunner
107 (0.134 %)Visual Studio Tools for Office
115 (0.096 %)Subversion
115 (0.096 %)Oracle Forms
115 (0.096 %)Rational Rose
115 (0.096 %)Rational DOORS
IT Contractor Job Market, General CategoryGeneral
11297 (24.79 %)Finance
2555 (10.61 %)Banking
3241 (4.606 %)Telecoms
4188 (3.593 %)Legal
5185 (3.536 %)Investment Banking
6161 (3.077 %)Law
7157 (3.001 %)Retail
8124 (2.370 %)Financial Institution
9101 (1.930 %)Front Office
1086 (1.644 %)Back Office
1177 (1.472 %)Publishing
1276 (1.453 %)Marketing
1374 (1.414 %)French Language
1453 (1.013 %)German Language
1552 (0.994 %)Billing
1647 (0.898 %)Manufacturing
1746 (0.879 %)Pharmaceutical
1845 (0.860 %)Retail Banking
1927 (0.516 %)Automotive
2025 (0.478 %)Electronics
IT Contractor Job Market, Job Titles CategoryJob Titles
11854 (35.44 %)Analyst
2523 (9.996 %)Support Analyst
3418 (7.989 %)Business Analyst
4369 (7.053 %)Project Manager
5341 (6.518 %)Desktop Support
6326 (6.231 %)Support Engineer
7322 (6.154 %)Service Analyst
8296 (5.657 %)Service Desk Analyst
9262 (5.008 %)Developer
10259 (4.950 %)Administrator
11249 (4.759 %)2nd Line Support
12223 (4.262 %)1st Line Support
13179 (3.421 %)Coordinator
14174 (3.326 %)Desktop Engineer
15163 (3.115 %)Helpdesk Analyst
16152 (2.905 %)Helpdesk Support
17140 (2.676 %)Consultant
18136 (2.599 %)IT Support
19130 (2.485 %)Desktop Analyst
20128 (2.446 %)Trainer
IT Contractor Job Market, Miscellaneous CategoryMiscellaneous
1320 (6.116 %)Blackberry
2177 (3.383 %)Management Information System
385 (1.625 %)NHS
472 (1.376 %)PMI
562 (1.185 %)Credit Risk
653 (1.013 %)PDA
743 (0.822 %)Market Risk
743 (0.822 %)Hedge funds
842 (0.803 %)iPhone
842 (0.803 %)Mathematics
940 (0.765 %)Client/Server
1039 (0.745 %)Statistics
1136 (0.688 %)Computer Science
1233 (0.631 %)E-Learning
1328 (0.535 %)Video Conferencing
1427 (0.516 %)Equities
1523 (0.440 %)Reference Data
1523 (0.440 %)iPad
1622 (0.420 %)Fixed Income
1721 (0.401 %)Thin Client
IT Contractor Job Market, Operating Systems CategoryOperating Systems
12010 (38.42 %)Windows
2950 (18.16 %)Windows XP
3884 (16.90 %)Windows 7
4436 (8.333 %)Windows Server 2003
5372 (7.110 %)Windows Server 2008
6222 (4.243 %)Windows Vista
7209 (3.995 %)UNIX
8134 (2.561 %)Windows 2000
9106 (2.026 %)Linux
1058 (1.109 %)Mac OS X
1143 (0.822 %)Windows 2000 Server
1236 (0.688 %)Solaris
1333 (0.631 %)Windows NT
1429 (0.554 %)AIX
1524 (0.459 %)Android
1621 (0.401 %)Red Hat Enterprise Linux
1621 (0.401 %)Apple iOS
1717 (0.325 %)Windows Mobile
1814 (0.268 %)SUSE
1913 (0.248 %)Mac OS
IT Contractor Job Market, Processes & Methodologies CategoryProcesses & Methodologies
1779 (14.89 %)Project Management
2689 (13.17 %)ITIL
3490 (9.365 %)PRINCE2
4353 (6.747 %)Migration
5249 (4.759 %)Business Analysis
6243 (4.644 %)Stakeholder Management
7219 (4.186 %)Data Analysis
8218 (4.167 %)Change Management
9180 (3.440 %)Risk Management
9180 (3.440 %)Service Management
10161 (3.077 %)Service Delivery
11149 (2.848 %)Change Control
12146 (2.791 %)Time Management
13138 (2.638 %)CRM
14134 (2.561 %)User Acceptance Testing
15130 (2.485 %)Document Management
16120 (2.294 %)Workflow
1798 (1.873 %)Incident Management
1897 (1.854 %)Project Planning
1994 (1.797 %)PRINCE
IT Contractor Job Market, Programming Languages CategoryProgramming Languages
1538 (10.28 %)SQL
2191 (3.651 %)VBA
3123 (2.351 %)C#
4119 (2.274 %)VB
587 (1.663 %)C
686 (1.644 %)T-SQL
779 (1.510 %)Java
869 (1.319 %)JavaScript
958 (1.109 %)VB.NET
1052 (0.994 %)VBScript
1150 (0.956 %)Python
1239 (0.745 %)Perl
1338 (0.726 %)PL/SQL
1434 (0.650 %)PowerShell
1530 (0.573 %)PHP
1622 (0.420 %)C++
1713 (0.248 %)VB6
1811 (0.210 %)Shell Script
1811 (0.210 %)ABAP
198 (0.153 %)Korn
IT Contractor Job Market, Qualifications CategoryQualifications
1319 (6.097 %)Security Cleared
2291 (5.562 %)Degree
3266 (5.084 %)Microsoft Certification
4215 (4.109 %)SC Cleared
5147 (2.810 %)MCP
6120 (2.294 %)PMI Certification
7118 (2.255 %)MCSE
876 (1.453 %)ISEB
970 (1.338 %)ITIL Certification
1065 (1.242 %)PRINCE2 Practitioner
1160 (1.147 %)PMP
1247 (0.898 %)MCITP
1247 (0.898 %)Cisco Certification
1344 (0.841 %)MCDST
1344 (0.841 %)PRINCE2 Certification
1441 (0.784 %)MCSA
1539 (0.745 %)DV Cleared
1635 (0.669 %)CCNA
1731 (0.593 %)A+ Certification
1829 (0.554 %)MCTS
IT Contractor Job Market, Quality Assurance & Compliance CategoryQuality Assurance & Compliance
1261 (4.989 %)SLA
2146 (2.791 %)QA
357 (1.089 %)ISO 9001
439 (0.745 %)Basel III
527 (0.516 %)Data Quality
625 (0.478 %)Basel II
721 (0.401 %)Sarbanes-Oxley
812 (0.229 %)Solvency II
910 (0.191 %)FATCA
910 (0.191 %)MiFID
108 (0.153 %)ISO/IEC 27001
108 (0.153 %)ISO 9000
116 (0.115 %)GxP
124 (0.076 %)IAS 39
133 (0.057 %)PCI DSS
133 (0.057 %)WCAG
142 (0.038 %)DO-178B
142 (0.038 %)COBIT
142 (0.038 %)JTAG
142 (0.038 %)BS25999
IT Contractor Job Market, System Software CategorySystem Software
11068 (20.41 %)Active Directory
2137 (2.619 %)VMware Infrastructure
372 (1.376 %)XenApp
437 (0.707 %)VMware ESX
535 (0.669 %)Terminal Services
626 (0.497 %)vSphere
723 (0.440 %)Citrix Presentation Server
723 (0.440 %)Oracle RAC
819 (0.363 %)Terminal Server
918 (0.344 %)XenDesktop
1016 (0.306 %)Veritas Cluster Server
1115 (0.287 %)Veritas Volume Manager
1213 (0.248 %)Hyper-V
1213 (0.248 %)MailMarshal
1312 (0.229 %)VMware ESXi
149 (0.172 %)ISA Server
158 (0.153 %)Microsoft Virtual Server
166 (0.115 %)NDS
166 (0.115 %)VMware Workstation
175 (0.096 %)RACF
IT Contractor Job Market, Systems Management CategorySystems Management
1119 (2.274 %)SCCM
273 (1.395 %)Systems Management Server (SMS)
365 (1.242 %)HP Quality Center
435 (0.669 %)Norton AntiVirus
531 (0.593 %)Backup Exec
627 (0.516 %)NetBackup
726 (0.497 %)WSUS
825 (0.478 %)DameWare
915 (0.287 %)McAfee ePO
1014 (0.268 %)OpenView
1110 (0.191 %)Tivoli
129 (0.172 %)SCOM
129 (0.172 %)WMI
138 (0.153 %)HP SIM
138 (0.153 %)Data Guard
147 (0.134 %)Control-M
147 (0.134 %)AppDNA
156 (0.115 %)Cacti
156 (0.115 %)CA SiteMinder
156 (0.115 %)OVSD
IT Contractor Job Market, Vendors CategoryVendors
12740 (52.37 %)Microsoft
2457 (8.735 %)Citrix
3293 (5.600 %)HP
4266 (5.084 %)Oracle
5225 (4.300 %)VMware
6193 (3.689 %)Cisco
7164 (3.135 %)Lotus
8159 (3.039 %)Remedy
9158 (3.020 %)SAP
10104 (1.988 %)Adobe
1194 (1.797 %)Business Objects
1292 (1.758 %)Dell
1386 (1.644 %)Bloomberg
1483 (1.586 %)Symantec
1581 (1.548 %)Reuters
1677 (1.472 %)IBM
1758 (1.109 %)Apple
1842 (0.803 %)Novell
1937 (0.707 %)Red Hat
2036 (0.688 %)McAfee