IT contractors working in the finance space might have had to battle against shrinking wages this year, but the sector is still going to provide more jobs than any other industry.

Research by the Giant group reveals that IT contractors retain the most confidence in the financial industry to provide more opportunities for work over the next 12 months.

Those technologists taking the temporary route have so far suffered rate cuts of around 10% in most major investment banks this year. Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Nomura International have all recently imposed cuts, and headhunters expect most other banks to follow suit.

The number of contractors in the Giant survey expecting a pay rise has dipped, but only by a “shallow” margin, according to Matthew Brown, group director of the firm.

“What we are seeing is a fairly measured response to the downturn,” he says. “Some IT projects which will not yield a short-term return on investment are being given lower priority, but the market hasn’t fallen off the cliff just yet.”

According to Brown, part of the reason for the optimism might stem from the fact that “there is far less fat to trim” than during the dot-com crash of 2001-02, due to less frenzied contractor hiring.

There’s also increasing red-tape surrounding permanent hires and contractors are a flexible resource that can solve immediate staffing needs without the long-term commitment.