Almost a third of IT contractors think the financial services sector will create the most IT jobs over the next year, compared to 27.5% this time last year, according to research from contractor services provider giant group.

Meanwhile, confidence in the public sector has plummeted with just 8.9% of IT contractors expecting the public sector to create the most jobs over the next 12 months compared to 16.9% in Q2 2010 and 29.6% in Q2 2008.

Matthew Brown, managing director of giant, says: “Banks pulled the plug on a lot of IT projects during the recession, but are now ramping up spending again as they play catch-up. In areas where banks expect to make significant productivity gains, such as cloud computing, demand for IT skills has risen sharply.”

“Banks are also under intense regulatory pressure to improve their risk monitoring processes and ensure that their transactions are more transparent, which is spurring a huge investment in IT.”