Indecisiveness in the drawing up a development strategy for the UK's digital economy has seen it fall further behind other countries, which could have a negative effect on job prospects for IT contractors.

According to the latest report from Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) the UK, which previously sat at a lowly 13th in the digital economy rankings, has now slipped to 14th position.

Reacting to the news, the director of global technology research at the EIU Denis McCauley said that it was not that the UK had got worse, it has simply stood still while others have moved forward.

He added that the UK's lower scores were "due to the greater uncertainty surrounding the government's overall digital development strategy, its e-government strategy and other areas of digital leadership".

The UK also suffered due to a relatively low number of 3G mobile subscriptions, and the poor quality of its broadband network, Mr McCauley noted.