On average, what premium should an IT Contractor expect over a
comparable permanent position? Should a contractor on a daily/weekly
rate expect twice the rate a permanent employee would receive? Three
times?

I have been offered a Business Analyst 6 month contract role, and I
cannot decide if the rate being offered is fair or not. I am currently
in full time, permanent employment.

I am working in Ireland, so any feedback/advice on contracting (rates,
etc) for Ireland or the U.K. will be most appreciated.

Hello, shimmie-ga,

The IrishJobs site has some data on IT contractor rates.  Their data
doesn't compare the contract salaries to those of full-time job
positions, however, since you know what you currently make, I think
you'll find the data useful.  Here's the link to their Jan 2002 survey
data:

http://www.irishjobs.ie/advice/AnalystsContractsRates.html

The table on the above page gives the daily contract rates for various
job titles. (I assume the figures are in pounds, even though it
doesn't explicitly state such.)  According to the table, a
Business/Systems Analyst with 2, 3, and 4 years experience can expect
to make around 317, 381, and 444 pounds per day respectively.

More recent data is gathered by the JobStats website.  Here's a link
to their page, but see below for a more useful summary of the data:

http://www.jobstats.co.uk/jobstats.d/Details.d/Rates.d/SKILL/ANALYST.d/index.html

The Contractor UK website provides a summary of the JobStats data.
According to them, an analyst can expect to make an average of £20 per
hour versus and average salary of £34,900.  Of course, the amount you
can expect to make in a year with the contract rate would depend on
how many hours per year you work.  Assuming an 8 hour work day, 5 day
work week, and 50 week work year, you could expect to make £40,000 per
year.  That's a 14% increase over the average salary.  This is a
significantly lower figure than the ones given by the IrishJobs site!
Keep in mind that the JobStats figures are an average, and the rates
vary rather widely.  Visit the Jobstats page above for more detailed
information.  Here's the URL to the Contractor UK page:

http://www.contractoruk.co.uk/article816.shtml


Additional Links:

"Market Data - IT Contract Rates - IT contractor rates"
http://www.contractoruk.co.uk/market.shtml

It's generally true that IT contractors make more money than those in
a salary-based job.  Of course, they also have more responsibility.
Here's an article you might find interesting titled "Young, freelance
and single" on the IrishJobs site:
http://www.exp.ie/advice/GoContracting.html


Google Search Strategy:

ireland OR "U.K." +IT contractor rates
://www.google.com/search?q=ireland+OR+%22U.K.%22+%2BIT+contractor+rates&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N


I hope this information is useful.  If you have any questions
regarding my answer, please feel free to request a clarification.

Best wishes,
bikerman-ga

The information provided was useful - thank you. However, I was hoping
to hear from someone with specific expertise in this area, perhaps a
recruitment consultant or someone in a similar position, or an IT
contractor. The specific question, of what kind of mark-up a
contractor should expect as a rule of thumb over a similar permanent
role, was not answered, but the links and resources referenced are
relevant and helpful.

The first link http://www.irishjobs.ie/advice/AnalystsContractsRates.html 
lists salaries in Euros - € being a symbol for currency in a table.