That's the finding of the IT Hiring Influence Report 2006 released by recruitment firm Diversiti, a division of Accenture Inc.

An estimated 78 percent of respondents identified global competition for skilled IT resources as the factor that will have the greatest impact on availability of IT labor in Australia over the next 12 months.

The survey also found 69 percent of respondents believe that retaining talent will be their biggest hiring challenge, closely followed by recruiting the right skill set (63 percent) and a shortage of skilled candidates (61 percent).

These preliminary findings were released today at the CompTIA panel discussion - "IT Skills Crisis: fact or fiction."

Full results will be launched in Sydney on Tuesday, June 6, 2006.