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Workforce IT skills gap threatens UK competitiveness, says report

According to a new report from e-skills and Gartner Consulting, the UK faces an IT skills gap in the workforce which will damage UK global competitiveness within 10 years if not addressed.

According to the report, seventy-six per cent of companies with hard-to fill IT professional job vacancies have had to delay the development of new products and services and 42 per cent have suffered an increase in their operating costs. Over one-quarter (26%) of UK businesses are suffering from a lack of everyday IT user skills within their organisations, with 44 per cent of companies reporting their staff were not proficient in using basic word-processing applications.

The report IT Insights - Trends and UK Skills Implications was carried out by e-skills UK with Gartner Consulting providing the broad IT-related trends impacting the IT industry and UK plc over the next decade, as well as interviewing business leaders and unions. The report also draws on an e-skills UK survey of over 3,200 employers which examined employer skill needs relating to IT within their organisations, and current skill deficiencies.

"The survey clearly demonstrates that the UK will not be competitive in the global economy in 10 years time if we continue with the level and type of skills being relied on by business today," said Karen Price cEO of e-skills UK.

"There is a tendency to dismiss the subject of skills as a 'soft issue' with no real impact on the economy. To do so in this case would lead to catastrophic damage of the UK economy. IT intensive industries generate 45 per cent of the UK's Gross Value Added - driving new markets and productivity. Businesses are reporting that IT skills shortages are causing delays to the development of new products and services, rising operating costs and failures in meeting customer service objectives. 'IT Insights' tells us that at present we have neither the everyday IT user skills, nor the IT professional skills within our businesses to avoid an economic crisis."

e-skills UK has drawn nine skills conclusions from the report and will publish an action plan for employers, government and the education sector following regional consultation. e-skills UK and Gartner Consulting will present the report findings to Secretary of State for Education, Charles Clarke, and 30 of the UK's university vice-chancellors this week to discuss the implications for the university sector.

"Information Technology and IT skills lie at the heart of the UK's future prosperity," said Price. "There are 20 million users of IT in the workplace, and the UK's IT industry contributes £30bn to Gross Value Added (GVA) - nearly 5 per cent of the UK economy. The acquisition of IT skills offers the potential to aggressively position ourselves for success - for the UK, for individual enterprises and for individuals. But the educational infrastructure needed to meet future skill requirements is not yet in place.

"Employers, employees, national and regional government, unions and educators need to collaborate on an unprecedented scale to meet this challenge - to ensure the skills the UK needs are the skills the UK gets. e-skills UK will work with employers to drive action from the employer perspective."

Ed Rashbrooke, Managing Vice President, at Gartner Consulting said: "Over the next ten years, technology trends such as mobility, the explosion in data volumes, high bandwidth wireless access and the convergence of multiple technologies will open up new business markets and change the way employers conduct business. These technology trends will require a constant upgrade of skills, if the UK is to successfully exploit their potential."

Larry Hirst, Chief Executive, IBM UK and Chair e-skills UK, commented: "A highly important and significant challenge to the UK over the next decade is that of developing competitive IT skills -those of IT users and of IT professionals alike. No-one can develop IT skills in the UK in isolation, but must work together as employers, and with the government, the education sector and private training sector to ensure that we are developing the right skills throughout the entire UK talent pool."

External links

For more information about the report visit:
www.e-skills.com/itinsights/

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