Forty percent of information technology leaders expect to increase temporary IT headcount in the third quarter, up from 36 percent who said the same in the second quarter, according to the findings of the recent TEKsystems IT outlook study, released Thursday. Thirty-eight percent say they will increase permanent IT headcount in the third quarter, down from 41 percent in the second quarter

 “Continued economic uncertainty makes contract workers more appealing,” said Tania Lavin, TEKsystems’ market research manager. “IT leaders would rather hire consultants on a project-to-project basis than ramp up full time teams without specific initiatives in mind.”

Survey respondents also report that it is difficult to find enterprise architects (65 percent), cloud architects (58 percent), security specialists (51 percent), and business intelligence specialists (49 percent).

“It is consistently difficult to find enterprise and cloud architects,” Lavin said. “Due to high demand, professionals with these skills do not need to actively seek new opportunities. They are recruited and get their choice of challenging work and appealing compensation packages.”

TEKsystems partners with the Inavero Institute to conduct a quarterly survey of nearly 3,000 IT leaders in the U.S. and Canada.