State of the Market

[Fraidycat]

Well, think I have decided not to bother looking for the time being. It's just bringing down the enthusiasm I once had for software development.

Things are not improving and after 12mths of applying and getting nothing. Probably time to look at other things.

We are nearly at the end of this i think. The dot com crash took down the UK contractor market for about 30months. (Mid 2001 to end of 2003)

We are 26 months into this one, and interest rates cuts are on the way down and in 4 months the next US president will take office. Coinciding with the 30 month mark.

Blue skies ahead.

I would at least continue applying for roles where you are a perfect match based on the spec and your skills.

[SchumiStars]

Well, think I have decided not to bother looking for the time being. It's just bringing down the enthusiasm I once had for software development.

Things are not improving and after 12mths of applying and getting nothing. Probably time to look at other things.

[dsc]

I think contractors current challenges are only a symptom of a wider problem. I know it is unscientific but looking on LinkedIn I am not sure the permanent market is much better and IT recruitment is a blood bath at the moment.

If that's the case, then contractors who think some gov will just swoop in and fix all their issues are even more delusional. We are really at the very far end of the queue of things to fix and overall are pretty well ahead of permies in terms of taxes / pay etc. That gap is getting smaller each year, which is only a win for HMRC.

[hungry_hog]

If anyone here is in FS, Citi is hiring extensively. I get about 2 emails a week from agents for them. Even when it's not mentioned you can tell from the terminology who it is.

They are always hiring, make of that what you will

[willendure]

This is why it always makes me laugh when people here say that the gov needs to fix this or that for us to make more money / get jobs etc. As if we are the priority

Exactly - as a contractor I never complain because I know I had a good deal. I remember once working for a government department, and they screwed up their budget, so at xmas time they told all the contractors unexpectedly to take a full 3 weeks off. This happened on the day before we were winding up for xmas, no notice or anything. And they all whined about it apart from me. I was thinking, great 3 weeks off for me to do all the tulip I need to do, and I've got a job to come back to in January, so bonus!

What I wanted to say is, there is a problem in the UK and it extends to most western countries. That is that the boomers are retiring, shrinking the productivity of the economy, and going from high earners to tight fisted pensioners overnight; that significantly changes how they view their capital. You can see how this played out in Japan already and from that derive a picture of how this will be and is affecting the UK. In many ways it didn't really matter which party we elected at the last election because they all face this issue. Since demographics is "baked in" and cannot be changed, there are no easy solutions. A major difference with Japan is that they don't have immigration like we do. Hence they have found remaining politically unified easier as a population with a more singular ethnicity. The difficulty the UK has is that immigration is a possible solution to demographics through filling in desirable age ranges by recruiting from abroad, but that also increases political division.

So tough choices indeed, and contractors are not a priority. But also we've been hit in the past by tax changes, how much is left to squeeze out of us, or are their more ambitious targets that mean we get overlooked?

Rumours of 45% on all dividends sound a little paranoid.

[SussexSeagull]

This is why it always makes me laugh when people here say that the gov needs to fix this or that for us to make more money / get jobs etc. As if we are the priority

I think contractors current challenges are only a symptom of a wider problem. I know it is unscientific but looking on LinkedIn I am not sure the permanent market is much better and IT recruitment is a blood bath at the moment.

[dsc]

[...]but high-earning contractors will be squarely caught up in it and, honestly, it will be very hard, perhaps impossible, for them to not screw it up.

This is why it always makes me laugh when people here say that the gov needs to fix this or that for us to make more money / get jobs etc. As if we are the priority

[SussexSeagull]

Was talking to my friend, a small business owner. He was saying that prior to COVID he struggled to find staff but now he has people literally knocking on his door asking for work.

Also told me that the freshies have to also pay some sort of 10-year-visa-plan, which is around £2k per year.

No wonder the govmt love immigration. It literally is cash cow for not offering much more than what is here. Supported by the current infrastructure.

Not so good when you have to start paying people benefits because they can't find work.

[Bluenose]

Currently sat on my roof terrace in Southern Spain, contemplating whether i could move here full time. Any tax rise on dividends, no matter how significant, would probably tip the balance. Digital Nomad Visa for me and my US client. 24% flat rate tax. Bye bye broken Britain.

It's actually lower than 24% as you can offset the UK NICs as a cost, it can go as low as 12%.

[SchumiStars]

Was talking to my friend, a small business owner. He was saying that prior to COVID he struggled to find staff but now he has people literally knocking on his door asking for work.

Also told me that the freshies have to also pay some sort of 10-year-visa-plan, which is around £2k per year.

No wonder the govmt love immigration. It literally is cash cow for not offering much more than what is here. Supported by the current infrastructure.