Job prospects for IT contractors have appeared to worsen in the last month, as a new report shows that the growth rate for temporary worker recruitment has reached a 14-month low.

The Report on Jobs, produced by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), suggests that temporary appointments continued to rise in October, but not as quickly as seen in September.

In addition, the number of available staff for temporary work increased at the fastest rate in seven months.

Commenting on the findings, the REC chief executive Kevin Green said that these figures show that employer confidence remains in a fragile state.

He added: "We remain confident that the private sector will ultimately be able to offset public sector job losses.

"However, government needs to do more to reduce taxation on business."

Recruitment group CV Screen recently revealed that IT contractors in the south earn around 20 per cent more than their northern counterparts.