The number of IT jobs opportunities in financial services in 2012 is on course to exceed last year’s service, as recovery from the 2008 peak and 2009 zenith.

IT job site CWJobs’ JobsAdWatch data saw a peak of 32,113 contract and 119,519 permanent jobs in 2008. Both figures more than halved to 13,348 and 45,525 respectively in 2009, before increasing in 2010 and 2011.

Now, half way through 2012, there have been 13,995 contract and 31,379 jobs – respectively 57% and 53% of the total posted last year. While this puts contract roles on course to approach the volume of hiring experienced pre-crunch, permanent roles look likely to only reach just over half those advertised in 2008.

Richard Nott, website director of CWJobs, says: "A weakening domestic climate has meant companies are reluctant to take on staff, which in part explains why over the years the ratio of contract to permanent vacancies have levelled out significantly.

In 2008, the contract to permanent ratio was roughly 1:4 – it now stands at less than 1:2.5. Nott concludes: "We would expect volumes of permanent roles to remain relatively flat as a result, but we could well see numbers of contract vacancies start to overtake [permanent vacancies] in the next year."