London and the South East is creating 65% of the UK’s new IT jobs, despite representing just a quarter of the country’s population, reveals research by ReThink Recruitment, the IT staffing company.

According to the study, the research is further evidence that the economic divide between London and the South East, and other regions of the UK, is getting wider.

London accounts for the largest share of the new IT jobs by far, with 38%. The South East comes second place with 27%, while the region ranking in third place, the North West, claims just 6.6% of new IT jobs.

According to ReThink, demand for IT skills in London and the South East is being spurred by strong growth in the services sector, which outperformed the rest of the UK economy in the first quarter of 2005.

Jon Butterfield, director of ReThink Recruitment, said: “The two sectors driving demand for IT skills currently - financial services and Central Government - are heavily concentrated in London and the South East.”

The research also suggests that financial services firms in London and the South East have stepped up recruitment of IT professionals over the last year and staffing levels are increasing steadily. This is a much more gradual rise, however, than the rapid boom of the late 90s.