The drive by companies to cut costs by moving lower-skilled IT support operations overseas has led to a fall in real wages for entry-level jobs, a study says on Monday.

The pay cuts could cause long-term damage to the industry. Ann Swain, chief executive of the Association of Technology Staffing Companies (ATSCo), which commissioned the research, said: “The outsourcing of entry-level IT jobs has meant fewer graduate-level jobs are available in the UK. It’s like removing the bottom rung from the career ladder.”