Whisper it, but the IT jobs market in the UK may have turned a corner after two years of decline. Statistics from recruitment site CWJobs show that the number of permanent IT vacancies advertised in the first quarter of 2003 climbed 4%. It was the first quarterly rise since April 2001. The situation for contract staff looks even better, with a sequential rise in advertised positions of 7%.

But before the champagne corks start popping, a note of caution: the quarter-on-quarter rises are from unusually low levels, and the year-on-year picture shows that permanent vacancies actually fell by more than 60% and contract vacancies by more than 40%. The figures also show big variations between the regions (see table).