IT skills gap gradually closes

A
major new study into the UK’s IT workforce shows skill shortages are slowly
easing.

The
study, “e-skills Regional Gap – UK” by e-skills UK, the industry
representative body for IT skills, shows:

–
While skills shortages still exist the number has reduced. Particular skills
shortages remain in development and operations roles. Software and systems
developers are the hardest to recruit

–
Skills gaps continue to constrain employers with 46 per cent reporting a need
for improvement. In the regions the South East and Northern Ireland were most
likely to report a skills gap; Yorkshire and North East were least likely

–
Overall, 1.2 million professionals work in IT

–
The South East of England (19 per cent) and London (13 per cent) account for
the largest proportion of IT professionals. The North East (5 per cent) and
Northern Ireland (5 per cent) account for the lowest

–
The typical IT professional is male (67 per cent), permanently employed and
working full time

–
Companies in all regions continue to grow their IT professional workforce, but
at a far slower rate than one year ago. The number of employers intending to
downsize is negligible

–
There is considerable regional variation with a much higher proportion of employers
in the South East and Wales predicting growth (44 per cent and 36 per cent
respectively) than the UK average (27 per cent)

–
Graduates entering IT employment have remained steady at 12,500 over the past
four years.

–
Less than one in five people who choose to study computer science at university
join the IT workforce

–
Graduates are massively disproportionately attracted to London (attracting 20
per cent of the national pool) and the South East (17 per cent)

www.e-skills.com/publications

By Quentin Reade