Researchers Bob Birrell, Ernest Healy and Paul Smith analyzed data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and found a decline of nearly 16,000 computer servicing jobs in Sydney since the turn of the millennium, compared to a decline of about 2,700 jobs in Melbourne.

And while Melbourne has maintained its national share of about 27 percent of all IT jobs in Australia, Sydney's share has dropped from nearly 41 percent in 2000-2001 to 34 percent this year.

Healy attributed the nationwide decline in IT jobs to a number of factors, including millennium bug fears and the Sydney Olympics in 2000, which could have led to a boom, and subsequent collapse, in the employment of IT staff.

The July 2000 introduction of the Goods and Services Tax in Australia could also have contributed to the boom, as most companies had to either install new accounting programs, or modify their existing business software to be able to conduct business under the new GST regime.

In addition to GST and the millennium bug, which are expected to have affected all Australian cities similarly, Sydney has also experienced a decline in population growth and a move towards the outsourcing of IT services, which Healy said could be contributing factors to its loss of national share of Australian IT jobs.