(22 January 2016) – In the European Union, nearly 8 million persons were employed in 2014 as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) specialists, representing 3.7% of total employment.
Over recent years, both the number and the share of ICT specialists in total employment have continuously increased to better adapt to an ever digitalised world.
However, almost 40% of enterprises with at least 10 persons employed which recruited or tried to recruit personnel for jobs requiring ICT specialist skills had hard-to-fill vacancies in 2014.
This profession is largely made up of men, accounting in 2014 for more than 8 ICT specialists out of 10 employed in the EU (81.9%). It also employed mainly highly educated people, with more than half (56.5%) of ICT specialists in the EU having a tertiary education level.
In relative terms, the highest shares in 2014 of ICT specialists in total employment were recorded in Finland (6.7%) and Sweden (6.0%), followed by Luxembourg (5.1%), Estonia and the Netherlands (both 5.0%). At the opposite end of the scale, Greece (1.3%), Bulgaria and Lithuania (both 1.9%) and Latvia (2.0%) registered the lowest proportions.