IT contractors may find the jobs market quite competitive in the next few years, according to research by the Home Learning College (HLC).

The distance learning provider conducted of survey of typical British workers and found that 53 per cent of them felt the UK had still not seen the full effect of the recession.

With a third in fear of losing their jobs, up to 40 per cent would consider setting up their own business if they were made redundant, the survey revealed.

This could lead to an increase in the number of independent IT contractors looking for work should the IT industry see significant job losses.

However, people under the age of 24 are more optimistic, with 51 per cent believing things will get better this year.

This is a view shared by data centre provider BlueSquare Data, which believes that the convergence towards cloud computing will see an increase in job opportunities for IT contractors this year.