Nearly nine out of 10 IT employees are planning to look for better career opportunities this year.

Onrec reports the IT industry’s workfoce are keen to change their job in 2009 despite the recession, according to a survey.

Among those who want a change, more than 50 percent said they wanted better career progression and 45 percent want to earn more money. Nearly two thirds plan to develop their technical skills with a new job, and more than half believed it would improve their work/life balance.

Of the 11 percent of respondents who did not plan to look for a new job in 2009, nearly half said this was because they were happy with their current job, and 36 percent think the volatile economic climate would prevent them from changing.

Almost half of those surveyed believed that the economic downturn would have some negative impact on the IT sector, but that it would not be as affected as other industries.

Alex Farrell, managing director of The IT Job Board who carried out the survey, said: “It’s positive to see that the sector’s employees do not believe the economic downturn will have a major impact on career opportunities. And, I am surprised by how many plan to look for new work in the year ahead.”