the Labour Market Survey Report - Council of European ...

Preface
In spite of an extended period of discussions in various bodies about the IT “skills gap” in Europe, there
remain many questions about the exact nature of the problem, and how to tackle it, whether from the
political or economic perspective. Attempts at policy measures to effectively improve the situation for
the benefit of European employment and the economy are still in their early stages in a number of
countries. Since the IT profession needs to contribute to effective policy development as one of the
strong drivers of national competitiveness, CEPIS Member Societies agreed through their Council to
commission a serious study from an acknowledged expert.
This CEPIS report surveys the current state of IT practitioner skills within the European Union. It presents
an overview of the IT practitioner labour market und summarises recent trends on employment in four
different countries (Germany, Ireland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). The future development of the
size of the IT practitioner workforce is then explored by using different plausible employment growth
scenarios, with annual increases of 2% to 15%, following an initial downturn.
This work forms part of a CEPIS initiative to help improve IT practitioner skills within European countries.
The labour market study was initiated by the former CEPIS president Peter Morrogh in Spring 2001. It
presents a comprehensive perspective of the field, together with a significant amount of new statistical
information, and makes recommendations for follow-through to provide a sound basis for the future
work of decision makers in policy, education and business. Due to the limited coverage of the report in
its current preliminary version, it is planned to extend and update the quantitative data, in particular to
encompass the position of IT Practitioners in all Member States. The initial cross-comparisons between
the situations in four Member States can then be extended for the European Union as a whole. In
particular, details on education, training and certification programs are to be addressed, in order to
clarify the most effective approaches to tackling the expected future IT skills shortages.
One of the key objectives of this study is to provide a sound factual basis on which plans can be
developed by CEPIS for strengthening education and training of IT professionals by means of
certified training programmes recognised at the European level. The Council of European Professional
Informatics Societies is funded by subscriptions from 32 member societies in 28 European countries
and by the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) Foundation, which was founded by CEPIS in
1996. The ECDL has reached over 1.5 million graduates and has gained considerable recognition by the
European Commission. The Council is currently engaged in an EU-funded project developing European
Certification for Informatics Professionals (EUCIP). This will become an important contribution to
meeting the challenges of the future IT Practitioner labour market.
CEPIS is hopeful that this report and its other work will contribute to establishing a strong learning and
skill development context for IT professionals intended to complement conventional education in order
to help bridge the growing skills gap in Europe and create employment. Readers are invited to send us
their thoughts on how best to accomplish this aspiration. The author would particularly appreciate any
comments or suggestions you may have on the report, in order to improve the quality of the follow-on work.
We thank Dr. Matthew Dixon who carried out this CEPIS study for his excellent work.
Frankfurt, May 2002
Wolffried Stucky
CEPIS President
Peter Morrogh
CEPIS Past President