COBOL Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

COBOL
England > West Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the West Midlands requiring COBOL skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 9 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 165 122 106
Rank change year-on-year -43 -16 +5
Contract jobs citing COBOL 4 1 7
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 0.11% 0.055% 0.37%
As % of the Programming Languages category 0.53% 0.22% 1.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 4 1 5
10th Percentile £510 - £315
25th Percentile £561 £675 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £595 £700 £358
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +95.53% -33.70%
75th Percentile £608 £725 £375
90th Percentile £609 - £377
England median daily rate £535 £404 £420
% change year-on-year +32.59% -3.93% -22.22%

All Programming Languages
West Midlands

COBOL falls under the Programming Languages category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring coding skills in the West Midlands.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for coding skills 749 450 408
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 21.36% 24.97% 21.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 531 280 259
10th Percentile £368 £310 £313
25th Percentile £416 £413 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £492
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +1.73% -1.70%
75th Percentile £574 £546 £575
90th Percentile £656 £626 £650
England median daily rate £525 £513 £550
% change year-on-year +2.44% -6.82% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 23 5
10th Percentile - £30.25 £34.36
25th Percentile £21.25 £33.91 £35.00
Median hourly rate £52.50 £50.00 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -9.09% +136.86%
75th Percentile £67.84 - £58.75
90th Percentile - - £68.50
England median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +18.18% -15.38% +3.17%

COBOL
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing COBOL relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands.

COBOL job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

COBOL
Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing COBOL.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing COBOL

COBOL
Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing COBOL.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing COBOL

COBOL
Contract Job Locations in the West Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing COBOL within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 9 September 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Shropshire - 4 £595 - 1
COBOL
England

COBOL
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Job Titles
1 4 (100.00%) Developer
1 4 (100.00%) Java Developer
2 1 (25.00%) PL/SQL Developer
2 1 (25.00%) SC Cleared Java Developer
2 1 (25.00%) SQL Developer
Programming Languages
1 4 (100.00%) Java
1 4 (100.00%) PL/SQL
1 4 (100.00%) SQL
Qualifications
1 4 (100.00%) SC Cleared
1 4 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 3 (75.00%) BPSS Clearance