Press Release

UK among European leaders in IT professional skills training

17 August 2007

The UK provides considerably more training for IT professionals than most other European countries, according to findings published in the latest e-skills Bulletin.  Around one in four IT professionals in the UK and Denmark (26% and 27% respectively) had received training in the preceding month, against a European average of around one in six (15%). The data is drawn from Eurostat research covering the original group of 15 EU member states.

Karen Price, CEO, e-skills UK said:

"It is very encouraging that the UK is among Europe’s leaders in terms of investment in IT professional skills. This is reinforced by a recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)* which ranks the UK third worldwide in terms of IT professional skills, and fourth in terms of overall IT competitiveness.

"The UK starts from a position of considerable strength but it is vital that we do not become complacent. Our IT professionals are essential to the UK’s economic prosperity in a rapidly changing global knowledge economy. We must ensure they have, and can continue to develop, the skills they need.  The importance of this cannot be overstated: the EIU report concludes that when it comes to global IT competitiveness, skills will increasingly be the basis of IT differentiation at country level."

The e-skills Bulletin provides a quarterly update of ICT labour market data and trends collected from Government and private sources. The Bulletin, which covers the fourth quarter of 2006 and includes a special focus on Europe, also found that:

Almost 5 million people work in IT professional roles across the 15 original EU member states, representing around 3% of the total workforce;
There is remarkable consistency in the proportion of the workforce employed in IT professional roles – between 2% and 4% - despite considerable variations in the size of IT markets between countries;
IT professionals have, on average, higher skills levels than the rest of the workforce; and
The gender imbalance remains a significant issue, not just for the UK but also for other EU nations, with women representing less than one in five of the workforce across Europe, dropping to less than one in 10 for Belgium, Greece, Portugal and Luxembourg.
A copy of the full e-skills Bulletin Q1.07 is available at www.e-skills.com/research.

* The Means to Compete – Benchmarking IT Industry Competitiveness, Economist Intelligence Unit, 2007.  The UK is ranked fourth worldwide on overall IT competitiveness – after the United States, Japan and South Korea – and is ranked third worldwide on professional IT skills after the US and Singapore.