01:39 PM ET 09/21/98
IT skills gap threatening European companies
By Suzanne Perry
BRUSSELS, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Western Europe is facing a
growing shortage of workers with information technology skills,
a situation that could lead to exorbitant prices and deferred
projects, according to a study that will be released on Tuesday.
The skills gap will leave the equivalent of around 510,000
full-time jobs unfilled at the end of 1998, a figure that could
grow to 1.6 million by 2002, says the study conducted by
industry research firm International Data Corp (IDC).
While European companies are embracing Internet-based
technology to boost their competitiveness, they are paying scant
attention to the training needed by the employees who implement
it, IDC says.
"Europe today is exhibiting little evidence that it
recognises these fundamental issues; its plans to address the
human resources challenges are best described as embryonic," it
says.
The study, compiled for software giant Microsoft Corp
, will be presented at a conference in Brussels where
companies and European Commission officials will discuss how to
address the information technology (IT) labour shortage.
Noting that the skills gap is a global phenomenon, IDC says
European companies face a growing need for skilled workers to
select, install, customise and repair computer software and
hardware.
The study examined employment needs at European companies
which are IT users rather than the "backbone" industry such as
computer manufacturers or software publishers.
IDC says it calculated the demand by looking at both
fulltime IT jobs and jobs that require IT skills part time. It
found 320,000 out of an equivalent of 9.1 million full-time jobs
were left unfilled in 1997 because of a lack of appropriate
skills.
Given rising demand for IT-skilled workers, as many as 12
percent of such jobs may go unfilled in 2002, up from four
percent in 1998, it said.
The skills shortage is already prompting European companies
to put off projects and incur higher costs, IDC says, noting
that wages for technical skills had risen by as much as 60
percent in some contracts over the past 12 months.
Other consequences are "sub-optimal" worker productivity and
the use of non-European workers who are imported under contract
or work from remote locations, it said.
The study notes that technology users in Western Europe are
the second largest community of IT buyers, spending $193 billion
for hardware, software, data communications equipment and
services in 1997.
However, it says they lag behind North America, where a
similar population spent $337 billion, a gap that is expected to
grow.
((Brussels Newsroom +32 2 287 6839, fax +32 2 230 5573,
[EMAIL PROTECTED]))
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