"The 2009 Benchmark of Salaries and Employment Trends in IT survey from the National Computing Centre says one-third of respondents have experienced a shortage of candidates with certain key skills.

According to the survey, 33.7 percent of organisations highlight problems recruiting or retaining people with Oracle, SAP, .NET, web development, business analysis and network support skills."

- from ZDNet.co.uk

Despite the current economic downturn, finding skilled business analysts is not easy. 

My guess is that there are many newcomers to our profession who are trying to get started in a hurry but how don't yet have much experience or formal training.  The good and experienced BAs probably already have jobs and are staying put until the economic conditions improve.

For those of you who are new/aspiring analysts - this is a great time to take some time off (if you don't have a job anyway) and get a formal degree or training in business analysis.

- Adrian