Job vacancies in technology companies in the UK increased in August reaching the second-highest level in the past two years, according to a report from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) with data from Vacancysoft, a data publishing company for the recruitment industry.

The APSCo IT Trends Report found that demand in technology companies continues to make up a larger proportion of the professional vacancy market, exceeding 16% in August. While IT development and engineering constitutes 25% of all advertised IT roles the specialism saw more tentative growth of 3% year on year. Demand for managerial roles also increased, growing by 19% year on year, pointing towards organisations’ focus on expanding the frameworks of their IT departments. However it is IT security that experienced the greatest uplift, with demand rising by 26% year on year to August.

The report also revealed that vacancies in Greater London accounted for half of all openings in the technology sector, showing year on year growth of 2%. Conversely, the West Midlands and Wales each corresponded to less than 5% of the sector, but experienced the highest proportional change of over 10%.

“Despite some commentators expressing uncertainty about the degree to which the UK’s decision to leave the EU referendum will impact professional job availability, hiring sentiment remains strong in the IT sector, and across a number of other key economic sectors,” Ann Swain, chief executive of APSCo, commented on the report saying.

“According to our most recent IT Trends Report IT vacancies reached the second highest level in the past two years, which is certainly a positive sign of growth for the sector,” Swain said.

“It’s somewhat unsurprising that IT security roles have experienced such substantial year on year growth, as business leaders become more and more aware of the business risks of a cyber-attack and look to expand their IT security function. “