A director of the IT recruitment company Elan has claimed that conditions in the recruitment industry are currently worse than in the recession in the early nineties.

Business development director Peter Anthony said the IT recruitment market would begin to pick up gradually from the first quarter this year.

Anthony was commenting on the findings of a report compiled by Elan from phone interviews with 100 clients and 250 of its contractors.

He told Professional Recruiter: "This is the worst period for the recruitment industry that I have seen in 18 years – I think it is worse than the recession in the early nineties.

"There are fewer requirements and our customers have taken the opportunity to squeeze margins."

The report claimed September 11 had little effect on the IT recruitment industry because the sector was already in decline before the terrorist attacks.

It found that the market was already depressed before the attacks on New York and Washington.

Anthony said Elan’s order books backed up the findings, which showed job orders recovered in October after short-term decline in September.

Anthony said: "The events may have delayed the recovery but I believe in the first quarter of this year things will begin to pick up."

The research showed that in August/September 2001, more than three quarters of companies had no permanent or contract vacancies.

In the same period in 2000, around a third of companies had no permanent or contract vacancies.

However Elan’s clients predicted their needs for contractors would increase by 11% over the next 12 months.