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

4.8 IT Practitioners in other Member States
Perhaps the most interesting overall indicator of the significance (relative level) of IT Practitioner
activity within EU Member States is provided by the fraction of the national workforce involved in these
occupations. Figures 17 and 18 show the development of this percentage between 1995 and 2000, for
the Computing Professional (ISCO 213) and Computer Associate Professional (ISCO 312) occupations.
The comparative data shown is “normalized” by dividing the estimated total numbers in each
occupational category by the estimated total national employment of that Member State at the time
of each survey (Eurostat LFS data in each case). This provides an indication of the relative amount of
activity within these occupations in each Member State.
In spite of the general limitations of this data, therefore, the comparative data provides useful broad
indications, in particular of growth (or decline) of occupational activity, and of comparative levels of
employment in these occupations within Member States.
It should be borne in mind that “percentage of national workforce” is an indicator of “input” resource,
and can only be related to (real or perceived) normalized national “output” of such occupations (still less,
industries) through overall productivity values.
Noteworthy characteristics are:
Computing Professionals (ISCO 213):
• Relatively high workforce numbers in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United
Kingdom (all showing more than 1.5% of total workforce by 2000);
• Comparatively low Computing Professional communities in Austria, Greece, Italy and Portugal
(all with less than .5% of working population);
• Particularly strong growth in recent years in Denmark, Germany and the UK;
• Noticeable falls in employment levels in the year 2000 (probably arising from the disappearance
of work related to the “Y2K date change” problem), particularly notable in Belgium and Finland.
Computer Associate Professionals (ISCO 312):
(Zero returns from the UK and Ireland)
• Relatively high workforce numbers in Austria, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden (all showing
more than .8% of total workforce by 2000);
• Comparatively low Computer Associate Professional communities in Belgium and Greece (with
less than .2% of working population) (and in Ireland and the U.K!);
• Particularly strong growth in recent years in Austria and Sweden;
• Significant changes in Denmark between 1999 and 2000, also possibly arising from the final
stages of “Y2K” work
C E P I S I.T. PRACTITIONER SKILLS IN EUROPE | Section 4 | 65