Pixie,

I have not been on the BA market for several years since I started at my current client, but from what I've been hearing, it is difinitely not the best of times right now. And I am talking about consulting BAs, since a majority of companies are under hiring freeze these days and will not even consider full times employees. But there is still demand for consulting BAs but the main problem right now is heavy competition. More BAs on the job market. So the client can demand much more experience and qualifications. And the billing rate has gone down by almost 30-40%

For someone begining a consulting career, I would advise you be ready for both QA and BA positions. It's easy to switch back and forth, and both experience are relevant to each other on your resume. It is said that a good BA will write requirements like it is a test script, so experience in writing test scripts is definitely a plus for BAs. What I see happening in the market, due to clients' ability to demand more experienced contractors, a lot of PMs are being hired for BA role and BAs are being hired for QA role. That should change as the job market improves and QAs can also transition to BA roles.