U.S. chief information officers are growing more dependent on flexible labor, according to some of the findings in a new survey by Harvey Nash, an information technology staffing firm. The survey found that 14 percent of CIOs in the U.S.  have more than half of their staffs on flexible contracts, up from 9 percent in a similar survey last year.

In addition, the survey found that 42 percent of CIOs in the U.S. plan to increase their use of flexible labor.

Outsourcing is also growing, according to the survey, with 38 percent of CIOs planning further increases in IT outsourcing this year.

Key findings in the survey also focused on skills, technologies and other areas.

Skills in highest demand included “enterprise architecture” which was cited by 42 percent of respondents, and "business analysis", cited by 34 percent.

However, skills in “mobile solutions” posted the biggest gain in interest; 31 percent cited mobile solutions in as an in-demand skill in 2013, up from 14 percent in a similar survey in 2011. Big data was not tracked in previous surveys, but 34 percent of CIOs cited it as an in-demand skill in 2013.

Harvey Nash conducted the online survey — which included 330 IT leaders in the U.S. — from Jan. 2 to March 5, 2013.