IT skills gap to be filled by unemployed

A new partnership between the Government and business has
been set up to help 5,000 long term unemployed into high skilled, better paid
jobs within the IT sector.

Ambition IT, launched today by Chancellor Gordon Brown, is
designed to increase the IT skill levels of New Deal participants and to help
tackle the IT skills shortage.

The £50 million three-year pilot scheme was set up to help
unemployed people and lone parents to access technician jobs in the IT industry
and take up ICT training and also allows New Deal providers to bid for resources
to test innovative ICT solutions.

Brown commented, “Ambition IT is the smart solution for
business looking for skilled employees and for the country as a whole. It gives
hope to the unemployed, tackles skills shortages and shows us preparing for the
new economy. In five years time, 90 per cent of jobs will need IT skills,
compared with 70 per cent today and just 25 per cent in 1992.

“So Ambition IT matches unemployed men and women without
jobs to the businesses that need skilled IT technicians, a demand that itself
is set to increase by up to 25 per cent in the next three years”

www.dfee.gov.uk

By Ben Willmott.
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