Google searches for contract tech roles surge 23% to five-year high

Editorial Brief
At a glance: AI-assisted overview, optimised for journalists, search & news aggregators
Press Release

Latest search volume data suggests increasing interest in temporary tech roles

With recent BBC reporting on the decline of the dream ‘Big Tech’ job and an ever-shifting labour market, contract tech work has seen an uptick in interest over the last 12 months.

Digging into current attitudes towards contract, or temporary, roles in IT, Tenth Revolution Group has conducted keyword research revealing a steady increase of 23% in Google searches over the last year reaching a five-year high according to Google Trends.

Month

Search Volume

February 2023

4400

March 2023

4400

April 2023

4400

May 2023

4400

June 2023

4400

July 2023

4400

August 2023

4400

September 2023

5400

October 2023

5400

November 2023

5400

December 2023

4400

January 2024

5400

12-month trend

+23%

Responding to these new data insights, Tenth Revolution Group Chairman and CEO James Lloyd-Townshend commented: “The rise in searches for contract roles in tech is both noteworthy and positive. Taking in this data in the aftermath of The Great Resignation, it’s a clear and coherent picture. Contract work gives professionals that much more agency when it comes to structuring their projects, workloads, and crucially their work-life balance.”

“And for businesses, we’re still in the midst of waves of critical digital transformations. This often means hiring technical specialists who can dedicate their time and expertise to the work. For most organisations, contractors are great for working on one-time projects such as implementation or building additional functionality—which is where bringing in those IT specialists on a fixed-term basis makes ideal strategic sense.”

“It’s a scenario that can be very positive for businesses and tech professionals alike. The business benefits from the expertise and skillset required to pursue their transformation project, and the tech professional is able to work on a project-to-project basis, creating more flexibility in their working life.”

Methodology

Data was collected using keywordtool.io on 26 February 2024, and corresponds to global Google search volumes over the period February 2023 – January 2024. Google Trends data was collected on 25 February 2024, and corresponds to global Google search volumes over the period March 2019 – February 2024

Notes to editors

In light of the new UK Flexible Working Bill, which allows workers to request flexible forms of work from day one of employment, Tenth Revolution Group researched the volume of contract IT work searches.
The report reveals a 23% increase in Google searches for contract IT work, marking the highest record in five years. This trend underscores the growing popularity of contract roles among tech workers, offering them increased flexibility in location, working hours, and payment rates.
A recent survey by Slack, the AI-powered work platform, further supports this trend. It shows a strong appetite among UK employees for flexible working arrangements, with over half (55%) planning to request such arrangements.
Commenting on the data, Tenth Revolution Group Chairman and CEO, James Lloyd-Townshend shared insights on how tech contract roles can positively impact businesses and provide professionals with better work-life balance.
You can access the full report through this Dropbox link. Please let me know if this would be of interest to your readers.
About TRG
Tenth Revolution Group is the global leader in creating and delivering hard-to-find cloud IT professionals. Tenth Revolution Group is the parent company of Frank Recruitment Group and its successful recruitment brands Anderson Frank, Jefferson Frank, Mason Frank International, Nelson Frank, Nigel Frank International, and Washington Frank. Tenth Revolution Group also operates cloud talent creation experts, Revolent, who specialise in creating the next generation of AWS, Salesforce and Microsoft cloud talent.

Get more news like this

Get more news like this on Google. Set News By Wire as a ‘Preferred News Source’ to get quicker access to news that’s important.

All done!
Thank you for subscribing.

Email Subscription