Public sector spending and increased corporate confidence means the market for IT contractors is the best it has been for a long time, a survey of IT jobseekers by jobsite CWJobs claims.

The research found that almost half of those questioned feel more confident about finding a new contract position than they were at the beginning of 2004.

An earlier survey by contractor services company Giant estimated that around one-fifth of IT contractors now work in the public sector as the government struggles to computerise its operations by 2005.

But Joe Kelly, managing director of IT recruiter Parity, warned that demand for contractors from the public sector would not necessarily continue at its current heady pace. “Once these projects have been completed, work will start to tail off,” he said.