Job prospects for IT contractors are not likely to improve dramatically any time soon, as one expert predicts the jobs market recovery will be slow.

It could take between three and five years for confidence in the market to return to pre-recession levels, according to Phil Flaxton, chief executive officer of Work Wise UK.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has recently estimated that the economy will have to grow by around 2.5 per cent each year for the next five years in order to offset the job losses created by public sector spending cuts.

Mr Flaxton says that with this in mind, it naturally follows that unemployment is going to get worse before it gets better, but the new government really had no choice in what course of action to take.

"If we were to just carry on as we were in terms of borrowing, then apart from that being a very reckless strategy by any elected government, that would definitely fuel high unemployment because it wouldn't be sustainable," he explained.