The good news is that 2556 new IT jobs are predicted to be created in Australia during the third quarter, according to HR firm Drake International's Quarterly Forecast. The bad news is that it's a pathetically small share of the 101,413 new jobs across all sectors that the report predicts will be created for the quarter.

According to the Drake report, the Australian jobs market is booming but, based on the figures, the IT sector is only partially capitalising on the great jobs bonanza. Compared to comparable industry sectors, such as professional services (12,816 new jobs), construction and engineering (8,972), manufacturing (5,912), health (5,802) and banking & finance (4,489), the IT sector appears to be swimming against the tide.

For quite some time, industry pundits have been using excuses such as the post Y2K and GST hangover and the fact that IT is now a mature industry to justify why the IT jobs market has stayed down the bottom of the heap for so long. However, Y2K and GST are now half a decade in the past and other mature industries are now rocketing along.

The fact of the matter is that packaged solutions, outsourcing and offshoring have all combined to decrease the amount of in-house development at companies. IT is no longer viewed as a core business function at many companies but as something to be outsourced. Many jobs that used to exist in the MIS departments of medium-sized and large companies are no longer there. Jobs that used to exist at Telstra are now in India and won't be coming back.

Yes, the IT jobs market is certainly improving. In the current economic boom, with unemployment heading down below 5%, you would expect at least some improvement for the long depressed IT sector. However, the improvement is modest by comparison to other industry sectors, it is off a very low base and it could easily halt in its tracks if the economy stalls.

One glimmer of hope on the horizon is that some figures suggest that overseas markets, including the EU and the US, are starting to view Australia as an offshoring destination. Our favourable exchange rate, economic and political stability and educated labour pool make us an attractive alternative to, although not as cheap as, places like India, the China and the Philippines. However, more needs to be done to sell this story to the world.

Meanwhile, recruiters continue to howl skills shortage to the all who will listen. However, with just 800 new jobs a month being created within the IT sector across Australia, including sales and administrative positions, do recruiters really expect us to believe them?