The Case Study (elaborated solely by AIEC) describes the topic of the Job tendencies and vocational orientation and guidance in the ICT sector. Due to the topic of the Youth4Job project, special focus of the study is given to the youth population.

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CASE STUDY
Job tendencies and
vocational orientation and
guidance in the ICT sector
“Youth4JOB” Project
Identification of Good Practices and Quality
Services in terms of Vocational Orientation
and Guidance for Young People

2. Executive Summary................................................................................................................ 3
1 Introduction to the Case Study topic................................................................................... 4
1.1 Situation in Slovakia........................................................................................ 5
1.2 Situation in ICT sector.................................................................................... 6
2 Support Services to Youth Jobseekers................................................................................... 7
2.1 Project on Regional development and employment – case study...................... 8
2.2 InoPlaCe Project: Improving of Key Supporting Services for Young Innovators
across Central Europe – case study......................................................................... 9
3 Labour Market Mechanisms................................................................................................ 10
3.1 Skills supply in the ICT sector......................................................................... 10
3.2 Skills mismatches in the ICT sector................................................................. 11
4 Gender Issues...................................................................................................................... 13
5 Skills Forecasting & Anticipation in ICT sector.................................................................. 14
5.1 Up skilling and the need for a non-technical and soft skills.............................. 15
5.2 Current and forecasted labour and skills demand in the ICT sector................. 16
6 Recommendations............................................................................................................... 17
7 Conclusions........................................................................................................................ 18
8 References........................................................................................................................... 19
Table of Contents

3. 3
The present case study describes the topic of the Job ten-
dencies and vocational orientation and guidance in the
ICT sector. Due to the topic of the Youth 4 Job project,
special focus of the case study is given to the youth pop-
ulation.
Statistics show that at the end of 2012 in average 22,8
% of young people in the European Union were un-
employed. Hence, the EU is working to reduce youth
unemployment and to increase the youth-employment
rate in line with the wider EU target of achieving a 75%
employment rate for the working-age population (20-64
years).
The ICT sector plays an important role in the economy
in its own right and as a vital supplier to the private, pub-
lic and third sectors and also an important jobs cradle.
ICT sector companies and jobs are not evenly distributed
across EU countries and regions. In absolute terms, the
computer programming and consultancy sector is most
developed in the United Kingdom and Germany repre-
senting 37% of the entire EU workforce in the sector.
However, relative to the total workforce, it is in Den-
mark, Sweden and Ireland where the sector has the larg-
est share of the entire workforce (2% or more) while in
Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, the sector’s contribution
to total employment is 0.5% or less.
Across the EU, the sector has experienced continuous
growth. Between 2000 and 2011, the sector gained
around 600,000 additional workers - a growth of 29 %.
However, the trend across individual countries differs
significantly, from substantial sector growth in Slovenia,
Slovakia and Portugal to zero growth in the UK, Roma-
nia and Italy and a small decline in Denmark and Ice-
land. Some countries have mature ICT sectors, whereas
in others the sector has only recently developed.
There are important structural differences between coun-
tries in relation to skills demand in the ICT sector. The
demand for skills is likely to be stronger in those countries
which are ‘lagging behind’ and where the economy is less
mature in terms of the adoption and diffusion of ICT,
and which therefore are expected to experience relatively
greater growth in demand for computer programming,
consultancy and related services. The computing services
sector will continue to expand in the EU. Employment
growth of 7.6% is forecast, from 3 million workers in the
sector in 2010 to 3.2 million in 2020. Compared with
the average of 3.4% employment growth forecast across
all sectors, ICT will be one of the fastest growing sectors
in Europe.
Reforming education systems and increasing digital skills
learning opportunities will help prepare young Europe-
ans for the jobs of both today and tomorrow.
Executive Summary

4. 4
Statistics show that at the end of 2012 in average 22,8
% of young people in the European Union were unem-
ployed.
Chart no 1: Unemployment rate of young under 25 years - annual
average, %
GEO/TIME 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007
Austria 8,7 8,3 8,8 10,0 8,0 8,7
Bulgaria 28,1 25,0 21,8 15,1 11,9 14,1
Czech Republic 19,5 18,1 18,3 16,6 9,9 10,7
Germany 8,1 8,6 9,9 11,2 10,6 11,9
Euro area
(16 countries)
23,1 20,8 20,9 20,2 16,0 15,5
Greece 55,3 44,4 32,9 25,8 22,1 22,9
Spain 53,2 46,4 41,6 37,8 24,6 18,2
European Union
(27 countries)
22,8 21,4 21,1 20,1 15,8 15,7
Italy 35,3 29,1 27,8 25,4 21,3 20,3
Japan 8,1 8,2 9,3 9,1 7,3 7,7
Norway 8,6 8,7 9,2 9,2 7,3 7,2
Portugal 37,7 30,1 27,7 24,8 20,2 20,4
Slovenia 20,6 15,7 14,7 13,6 10,4 10,1
Slovakia 34,0 33,5 33,9 27,6 19,3 20,6
United Kingdom 21,0 21,1 19,6 19,1 15,0 14,3
United States 16,2 17,3 18,4 17,6 12,8 10,5
Source: Eurostat
Above presented, classic youth unemployment rates can
create a distorted view of reality. For example, the pro-
portion of under qualified young people who are actually
on the job market is far greater than it is in the entire
population of 15- to 24-year-olds that includes students.
Anyone who drops out of school at 14 gets statistically
grouped into the workforce and they are likely to be un-
employed.
Meanwhile, the best students often pursue their educa-
tions the longest, during which time they remain left out
of the data. Those who go on to earn a master’s degree
or Ph.D. often don’t enter the labour force until they are
past 25, which means they never even appear in the youth
employment statistics. Thus, Eurostat has also made an
alternative calculation that accounts for the entire young
population by age brackets, including students which
shown that the situation is slightly better.
Chart no 2: Young people not in employment and not in any edu-
cation and training, by age (NEET rates)
GEO AGE/
TIME
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
European
Union 27
15›24 10,9 10,9 12,4 12,8 12,9 13,2
European
Union 27
15›19 6,5 6,5 7,0 7,0 6,9 7,0
European
Union 27
15›29 13,2 13,1 14,8 15,2 15,4 15,9
European
Union 27
20›24 15,2 15,0 17,5 18,0 18,2 18,6
European
Union 27
25›29 17,3 17,0 19,0 19,7 19,8 20,6
Source: Eurostat
1 Introduction to the Case
Study topic

5. 5
According to the widely cited 2012 Euro found, there
is considerable variation in the NEET rate between EU
Member States, varying from below 7% (Luxembourg
and the Netherlands) to over 17% (Bulgaria, Ireland, It-
aly and Spain).
NEETs are a highly heterogeneous population. The larg-
est subgroup tends to be those who are conventionally
unemployed. Other vulnerable subgroups include sick
and disabled persons and young carers, as well as dis-
couraged workers and young people who are disengaged
from society. Non-vulnerable subgroups include young
people simply taking time out and those constructively
engaged in other activities such as art, music and self-di-
rected learning. Some young people are at greater risk of
being NEET than others. Those with low levels of educa-
tion are three times more likely to be NEET compared to
those with tertiary education, while young people with an
immigrant background are 70% more likely to become
NEET than nationals. Young people suffering from some
kind of disability or health issues are 40% more likely to
be NEET than those in good health. Family background
also has a crucial influence. Being a NEET has severe
adverse consequences for the individual, society and the
economy. Spending time as a NEET may lead to a wide
range of social disadvantages, such as alienation, insecure
and poor employment prospects, delinquency, and men-
tal and physical health problems (Eurofound, 2012).
In 2011, the economic loss due to the disengagement
of young people from the labour market in Europe was
estimated to be €153 billion, corresponding to 1.2% of
European gross domestic product (GDP). There is great
variation between Member States, but some countries are
paying an especially high price of 2% or more of their
GDP: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,
Latvia and Poland (Eurofound, 2012).
1.1 Situation in Slovakia
Slovakia has one of the highest youth unemployment
rates in the EU. Unemployment in Slovakia, including
youth unemployment, is one of the highest. Among 15
to 24 year-olds, the percentage of people out of work,
measured by the so-called Neither in Employment nor in
Education or Training (NEET) rate, was 13.8% in 2012.
Using a different measure, the simple unemployment
rate for this age group, Slovakia is currently in the third
worst position in the EU, with 34.5%. Only Portugal
(37.7%) and Spain (53.2%) are worse. These percent-
ages are higher than in NEET figures, because they are
calculated from a narrower base, of people available for
employment, rather than the whole age group.
Slovakia had one of the highest youth unemployment
rates in the EU even during the economic boom of 2005
- 2007, Therefore young people, especially those with el-
ementary and secondary education, have been experienc-
ing major difficulties finding a job. Yet, very few active
labour market measures can be said to be targeted at this
group.
In 2002, Slovakia enacted the Law on Employment Ser-
vices, a state-financed framework for internships and ap-
prenticeships. The intention was to guarantee the young
unemployed some employment experience and to pre-
vent them from working illegally. The mechanism is cur-
rently used by employers mostly for temporary jobs and
it is mostly viewed as a tool for preserving the working
experience of the unemployed. Employers bear no la-
bour costs for employing young people temporarily and
the young unemployed are not bound by any working
contract. This allows employers to rotate the young un-
employed without creating real jobs. The state-sponsored
internship scheme does have some positive effects, as it
at least provides some work experience. However, similar
to other internship programs, only a very low number of
participants find a permanent job through this mecha-
nism.
Slovakia´s experience, while still worse than others, is
not dramatically different from the situation elsewhere.
Young people have been encountering problems finding a
job for a long time in the majority of EU member states.
Internships, with a weak prospect of turning into a real
job, are widespread in many older EU member states. It
is estimated that in Great Britain only 9 percent of all
interns stay at their position after the internship ends.
On contrary, in Austria and Finland, close cooperation
with employers, the education system and job centres
form the bedrock of the policy, and the long-term effect is
ensured through a conceptual approach aimed at school-
to-work transitions. The effects are visible in Eurostat
figures. For example, Austria, with its 7% NEET rate,
has one of the lowest numbers of young unemployed in
the EU. Simply put, the efficiency of the Youth Guaran-
tee is based on long-term cooperation with employers. If
this cannot be ensured, the policy can lead to undesirable
outcomes, such as a frequent turnover of the unemployed
in internships or trainee programs with no real job pros-
pects.
In Slovakia, with its rigid labour market policy, this dan-
ger of creating too many temporary placements that do
not lead to stable jobs is quite real. With a ready supply
interns at low price, employers might even decrease the
availability of regular jobs. The problem lies in the lack

6. 6
of supportive measures that would help lock graduates
in jobs by providing them with training, for example.
According to the Law on Employment Services, young
people are considered to be one of the disadvantaged
groups on the labour market. This qualifies them to some
support besides the internship scheme, such as addition-
al training and education. However, the expenditures on
education and training of the unemployed are persistent-
ly one of the lowest in the EU.
The Youth Guarantee as proposed by the EU commission
is not a bad policy. The question is whether the individual
states will change the approach to labour market policy
and improve the connectivity of labour market needs and
education of school graduates, or whether it will, per-
versely, lead dropouts and graduates into a long chain of
internships. The example of Slovakia, where the govern-
ment haven’t establish appropriate framework for school-
to-work transitions even in the face of staggeringly high
youth unemployment, is not encouraging.
Policy makers could use the momentum provided by the
on-going discussion on the Youth Guarantee to pressure
the weak-performing member states into a range of fur-
ther labour market reforms.
1.2 Situation in ICT sector
The ICT sector plays an important role in the economy
in its own right and as a vital supplier to the private, pub-
lic and third sectors. As information and communication
technologies have expanded across virtually all economic
sectors, the boundaries of the sector are difficult to draw.
National statistical definitions of the ICT sector differ.
In some contexts, the ICT sector is viewed ‘as a com-
bination of manufacturing and services industries that
capture, transmit and display data and information elec-
tronically’. ICT is among the leading sectors in Europe
and affects economic growth across the economy in three
ways:
1. For the EU as a whole, the ICT sector share
of total business value added is 8.5 % and the
ICT sector employment constitutes 3 % of total
business sector employment in the EU.
2. The most important benefits of ICT arise from
its effective use. ICT investments help to raise
labour productivity.
3. The use of ICT throughout the value chain en-
ables firms to increase their overall efficiency
and makes them more competitive.
Currently two relevant estimates of the number of ICT
employees are available in Slovak Republic.
The first one refers to the selective determination of work
force (further only VZPS), which is consequently applied
to the most current demographical status at the time of
determination. According to this estimate, the ICT sec-
tor has 33,193 employees.
VZPS is based on a quarter-yearly determination of the
situation in the labour area and the employment rate in
households by means of a questionnaire. Regions of the
SR, age groups and gender are taken into account. An
employed person is such person who in the course of the
monitored week worked for at least one remunerated
hour. Employed people include the maternal/paternal
care in business-persons’ households, who do not get
any wage or remuneration for their activity, professional
members of armed forces, as well the civil service. Em-
ployed people are also persons who have a job but they
are not working in the course of the monitored week be-
cause of illness, vacation, a proper maternity leave, edu-
cation training, bad weather, strike or closure, excluding
persons on a long-term unpaid leave and persons on pa-
rental leave. With regard to the limited sample of house-
holds (10,250), this system of quantification brings a
certain risk of inaccuracy. The parameters obtained using
this method are also presented by Eurostat.
The second estimate of the employment rate in the sec-
tor is based on Statistical Office data on the registered
number of employees. The office acquires data on the ba-
sis of the obligation of enterprises to submit statements
on the number of employees. That is why this method is
more accurate to a certain extent, but its success is influ-
enced by insufficiencies in the statistics for units where
the number of employees is estimated using selective de-
termination.
Statistical Office data shows that the ICT sector had
33,193 employees in 2010 and 9,962 self-employed in
31.12.2009.

7. 7
The EU is working to reduce youth unemployment and
to increase the youth-employment rate in line with the
wider EU target of achieving a 75% employment rate for
the working-age population (20-64 years).
According to the European Commission - Employment,
Social Affairs & Inclusion - Youth employment depart-
ment, there can be mentioned several reasons why the
EU is tackling this issue:
· Youth unemployment rate is more than twice as
high as the adult one – 23.3 % against 9.3 % in
the fourth quarter of 2012.
· The chances for a young unemployed person of
finding a job are low – only 29.7 % of those aged
15-24 and unemployed in 2010 found a job in
2011.
· When young people do work, their jobs tend to
be less stable – in 2012, 42.0 % of young employ-
ees were working on a temporary contract (four
times as much as adults) and 32.0 % part-time
(nearly twice the adults’ rate).
· Early leavers from education and training are a
high-risk group – 55.5% of them are not em-
ployed and within this group about 70% want to
work.
· Resignation is an increasing concern – 12.6 %
of inactive youth wanted to work but were not
searching for employment in the third quarter of
2012.
· In 2011, 12.9% of young people were neither
in employment nor in education or training
(NEETs).
· There are significant skills mismatches on Eu-
rope’s labour market.
· Despite the crisis, there are over 2 million unfilled
vacancies in the EU.
In December 2012, the European Commission proposed
a package of measures to help deal with youth unemploy-
ment.
Youth Employment Package (2012) is the follow-up to
the actions on youth laid out in the wider Employment
Package and includes:
· A proposal to Member States to establish a youth
guarantee – agreed upon by the Employment and
Social Policy Council (EPSCO) in February 2013
· Second-stage consultation of EU social partners
on a quality framework for traineeships
· The announcement of a European Alliance for
Apprenticeships and ways to reduce obstacles to
mobility for young people.
2 Support Services to Youth
Jobseekers

8. 8
The Employment package (launched April 2012) is a set
of policy documents looking into how EU employment
policies intersect with a number of other policy areas in
support of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It
identifies the EU’s biggest job potential areas and the
most effective ways for EU countries to create more jobs.
Youth Employment Initiative (2013) reinforces and
accelerates measures outlined in the Youth Employment
Package. It aims to support particularly young people not
in education, employment or training in regions with a
youth unemployment rate above 25 %. The Youth Em-
ployment Initiative was proposed by the 7-8 February
2013 European Council with a budget of €6 billion for
the period 2014-20.
Youth on the Move (to which aims also Youth4Job proj-
ect) is a comprehensive package of policy initiatives on
education and employment for young people in Europe:
· Youth Opportunities Initiative (2011) includes
actions to drive down youth unemployment
· Your first EURES Job aims to help young people
to fill job vacancies throughout the EU.
Moreover, EU Skills Panorama is EU-wide tool gather-
ing information on skills needs, forecasting and develop-
ments in the labour market.
Central to the Commission’s proposal is the Youth Guar-
antee: a pledge underpinned by policy measures to pro-
vide employment, continued education or training for
people younger than 25 within four months of leaving
formal education or becoming unemployed. It is up to
the member states to choose the exact form of imple-
menting this in practice.
Some countries already have schemes in place similar to
the proposed Youth Guarantee. The Finnish and Austrian
systems, in fact, partly served as an inspiration for the
EU proposal. Similar measures can be found outside the
continent as well. For example, New Zealand has started
a Youth Guarantee Scheme in 2013. Nevertheless there
remains an open question whether a guarantee can re-
solve deep-seated labour market problems?
Moreover, the European commission’s recently an-
nounced “opening up education” initiative is a step in
the right direction. The initiative will integrate existing
and new actions to promote the use of ICT and open ed-
ucational resources in education and training. “Opening
up Education” will also be designed to address common
challenges faced by several education sectors (schools, vo-
cational and education training, higher education, adult
education) and to support sectors as they address their
own specific needs.
2.1 Project on Regional development
and employment – case study
This project promotes cooperation between the vocational
schools, employers’ organisations and industrial associations.
The aim is to make vocational training more attractive and
more responsive to the requirements of the Slovakian labour
market. The project takes into account the experience of the
Swiss dual educational system.
The main form of vocational training in Switzerland
involves working in a company and taking courses in a
vocational school. This is known as the dual educational
system. Training is geared to the actual demand for voca-
tional qualifications and to the jobs available. Thanks to
this direct connection to the labour market, Switzerland
has one of the lowest rates of youth unemployment in
Europe.
Slovakia does not have a dual training system. Vocational
training schools train apprentices in theory and practice
but in some cases they do not know what Slovakian com-
panies require from apprentices or how the labour mar-
ket is developing. As a result, there are sometimes gaps
between the skills acquired in training and the wishes of
companies. This is a factor in the increase of youth unem-
ployment, which totalled 34% at the end of 2012.
The Slovakian State Education Institute (SIOV) is re-
sponsible for the project on the Slovakian side. On the
Swiss side, the Federal Institute of Vocational Training
(EHB) is participating in the project; 85% of the financ-
ing of this project comes from the Swiss contribution to
the reduction of economic and social disparities in the
enlarged European Union.
The experiences of the EHB in the field of vocational
training are crucially important for this project. The Swiss
vocational schools and the Swiss system of vocational
training as a whole are considered particularly good and
in close touch with industry and with companies. This
knowledge transfer will have positive long-term effects on
the Slovakian vocational training system.
This project promotes greater and lasting cooperation
between the main actors in the Slovakian education-

9. 9
al system, especially between employers and vocational
schools. This will enable the vocational training system
to react more effectively to changes in demand on the la-
bour market. This in turn will increase the employability
of young Slovakian professionals, will make them more
attractive to employers and in the long run will reduce
youth unemployment.
2.2 InoPlaCe Project: Improving of
Key Supporting Services for Young In-
novators across Central Europe – case
study
Young innovators are important potential driving force
for the innovation in regions of Central Europe, but as
the matter of fact their potential is used in very limited
amount. It is also concerned that their needs for support
is particularly the same as for other Innovators, particu-
larly they faced specific issues according to their experi-
ences, knowledge and social inclusion.
Project InoPlaCe is targeting the young innovators as one
of the key driven forces of development, bringing to re-
gions high innovations potential.
Project aims to improve their framework conditions by
the following general objectives:
1. Develop transnational action plan for development
and improvement of Key Services for Young Innovators.
2. Improve the access of Young Innovators to existing ser-
vices which are supporting the innovations.
3. Develop and improve at least one service in each part-
ner’s region with realization of Pilot Actions.
Project also developed the Regional Innovation Labs
(RILs) which present a non-profit platform for direct in-
volvement of young innovators into project activities. In
every participating region RIL has min 20 members;
Benefits for participants:
· possibility to actively influence what services of
what quality will be offered
· Involvement in the RIL brings space for network-
ing
· The good practices identification and transfer
means the opportunity to make the grass equally
green as it is behind the neighbour´s fence.
· The opportunity to introduce the needs to a broad
audience including various stakeholders in the in-
novation process (RTD institutes, universities…)
and regional policy makers who shape the envi-
ronment in which the young innovators operate.
· Broader perspective on the supporting services for
young innovators outreaching their region
· Voluntary activity in the field of innovation and
EU co-funded project may enhance the CVs of
RIL members and their attractiveness for the em-
ployers.

10. 10
A large share of the ICT sector’s workforce is made up of
ICT professionals whose tasks include consulting activi-
ties and the design of ICT services, ICT development (in-
cluding software and applications, systems development,
web design, security, etc.) and running or delivering ICT
services (user support, systems and network administra-
tions, database management, etc.). It is important, how-
ever, to distinguish between ICT professionals and the
ICT sector. The ICT sector employs ICT professionals
and a large number of non-ICT professionals across a
range of roles, for example sales and marketing, admin-
istrative, finance and human resources. Whilst the ICT
sector remains the single largest sector employing ICT
professionals, in the EU, 55% of ICT professionals work
outside the core ICT sector (EU Skills Panorama Analyt-
ical Highlight. 2012).
Around 2.7 million people in the EU worked in the ICT
sector, in computer programming, consultancy and re-
lated activities in 2011, accounting for 1.25% of the en-
tire workforce. In 2009, the sector consisted of around
450,000 enterprises, many of which were micro enter-
prises or small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
The average number of employees per enterprise was 5,4.
ICT sector companies and jobs are not evenly distribut-
ed across EU countries and regions. In absolute terms,
the computer programming and consultancy sector is
most developed in the United Kingdom and Germany
accounting for one million jobs (representing 37% of the
entire EU workforce in the sector). However, relative to
the total workforce, it is in Denmark, Sweden and Ire-
land where the sector has the largest share of the entire
workforce (2% or more) while in Bulgaria, Romania and
Greece, the sector’s contribution to total employment is
0.5% or less.
ICT is a fast growing sector shaped by national
specific development paths and global trends
3.1 Skills supply in the ICT sector
Levels of ICT skills interest and competence amongst
young people provide an indication of the future poten-
tial supply of skills for the ICT sector. Students’ access
and use of ICT at school has improved since 2000. On
average across OECD countries, the percentage of stu-
dents who reported having a computer at home increased
from 72% in 2000 to 94% in 2009. During the same pe-
riod, Internet access at home grew from 45% to 89%, on
average across the OECD. The vast majority of European
countries show large increases in students’ self-confidence
in being able to undertake high-level ICT tasks. Despite
this improvement, a divide in the student access and use
of ICT is evident between countries (EU Skills Panorama
Analytical Highlight. 2012).
As graduates from science, technology, engineering, and
math often move into the ICT sector, their availability is
also important for the supply of future potential skills.
The supply of tertiary education graduates with STEM
skills varies significantly across the countries, with STEM
graduates constituting around 11-12% of all graduates
3 Labour Market Mechanisms

11. 11
in the UK, Germany, Greece and Ireland compared to
around 5% in Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Bulgar-
ia. Importantly, however, across the EU, the number of
tertiary education graduates in science, mathematics and
computing fields has declined slightly in the 2006-2010
period, from 9.8% in 2006 to 9.1% in 2010. Coun-
try-level trends are very different, with significant in-
creases in the number of STEM graduates apparent in
Malta and Slovenia (albeit from a rather low baseline)
and Denmark and Germany, but significant decreases in
Belgium, Ireland, Cyprus and Austria (EU Skills Panora-
ma Analytical Highlight. 2012).
More directly, a large part of the future technical work-
force in the ICT sector is also expected to come from
the pool of computing graduates, especially at the tertiary
level. However, the annual number of students graduat-
ing in computing in the EU-27 has been declining over
the last five years, following a peak in 2005-2006. Im-
portant to note is the variation in the number of gradu-
ates by ISCED levels:
· At Level 4 (Post-secondary non-tertiary education
- pre-vocational and vocational programme orien-
tation) and Level 5 (first stage of tertiary educa-
tion) the numbers of graduates have declined in
the last five years following a peak in 2005-2006;
· At Level 6 (second stage of tertiary education) the
number of graduates has continued to increase
throughout the last decade (from 1,839 graduates
in 2011 to 3,468 graduates in 2010), although
representing relatively low numbers.
3.2 Skills mismatches in the ICT sec-
tor
ICT sector is facing issues with an insufficient supply of
particular ICT graduates. The EU Skills Panorama Ana-
lytical Highlight from 2012 demonstrated the situation
in the following country examples:
· In the Czech Republic, the number of university
graduates in informatics increased significantly
between 2005-2010, and is expected to remain at
around 1,100-1,200 graduates per year to 2016.
In contrast, the demand for ICT sector workers
is expected to grow by 31% in the 2010-2020
period (from around 56,000 workers in 2010 to
around 73,000 workers in 2020), significantly
above the average 2% growth in employment ex-
pected across all sectors.
· In Ireland, a significant gap is anticipated up to
2015 between ICT sector demand and the do-
mestic supply of computing graduates of about
2,000-3,000 and hundreds for electronics grad-
uates. Such concerns remain relevant in the
post-crisis context and the gap between demand
and domestic supply will have to be bridged by an
inflow of graduates from outside Ireland.
· In Slovakia, research in the region of eastern Slo-
vakia suggested that the number of graduates
participating in ICT-oriented tertiary study pro-
grammes will not cover the growing demand for
ICT workers. Additionally the brain drain from
the region is exacerbating the skills gap.
· In Sweden, there is an excess supply of program-
mers forecast until 2025, after which a shortage
is forecast.
· In Iceland, the expansion of the ICT sector will
depend on the availability of computing pro-
gramming graduates. Currently, the number of
graduates in science, mathematics and comput-
ing remains low and it has even declined recent-
ly (18.2% of all graduates in the academic year
2000-2001 to 15.6% in 2009-2010).
It is important however to highlight that across the coun-
tries, new waves of ICT graduates will only represent
part of the workforce joining the sector. For example, in
the UK, on an annual basis up to 2015 it is expected
that 18% (22,600) of the average annual net recruitment
needs will be met by tertiary education graduates, com-
pared to 43% from those already in work in other sectors
(and 39% from other sources) (EU Skills Panorama Ana-
lytical Highlight. 2012).
The existence of hard to fill vacancies
Prior to the recent economic recession, skills shortages
and gaps in the ICT sector have been widely reported in
various EU countries. In the Czech Republic, for exam-
ple, employers have repeatedly reported job vacancies in
the ICT sector as hard-to-fill.
Commonly reported hard to fill vacancies concern func-
tions such as:
- help desk or end-user support functions
- data centre specialists
- network specialists

12. 12
- storage specialists
- security specialists
- application designers or programmers
- system architects
- project managers
According to an employer survey across Europe, the types
of hard skills that were most difficult to find include ‘net-
working’ and ‘security’; a shortage of systems architects
and project managers were also reported in some coun-
tries.
Skills mismatches by country and by type of skills remain
a concern for the sector (EU Skills Panorama Analytical
Highlight. 2012):
· In Ireland, currently the recruitment difficulties
are evident among computer software engineers,
personnel with foreign language skills and ICT
technical background, ICT network specialists
and engineers, ICT security experts, ICT tele-
communications, ICT project managers with
technical background; and sales and marketing
personnel with IT technical background and rele-
vant industry knowledge.
· In Italy, 23.7% of all hires were considered dif-
ficult in the ICT sector in 2011, a percentage
similar to the share for all sectors. However, re-
cruitment difficulties are more prevalent among
computing professionals and computer associate
professionals where about one third of hires pro-
jected for 2011 were considered difficult.
· In Norway, shortages of engineers are reported in
the ICT sector and well as skills shortages in soft-
ware development and data technicians. Accord-
ing to an employer survey in 2012, 17% of ICT
firms had to recruit persons with an educational
background other than that initially required.
· In the UK, according to the 2011 IT employer
survey, 11% of IT employers are aware of skills
gaps among employees and, of these, one third
report this for IT and telecoms staff (34%). Skills
gaps are prevalent in large firms and seem to be
concentrated in the occupations of programmers
/ software development professionals and web
design / development professionals. Non-techni-
cal skills gaps were also a concern for about two
thirds of employers reporting skills gaps. Gaps
most commonly mentioned are interpersonal
skills and sales-related skills, and to a lesser extent,
the ability to align IT activity with business needs
and to identify new product/process opportuni-
ties enabled by IT and telecoms.
Assuming a continuation of past trends, skills gaps will
emerge in relation to high level technical skills among
ICT professionals (for the design and development of ad-
vanced services) but also in terms of managerial/customer
oriented skills. However, a decline in demand may oc-
cur for other types of ICT hard skills such as traditional
programming, given the introduction of more innovative
programming techniques.
The re-emergence of skills gaps and the rapid evolution of
new skills/applications within the sector pose particular
challenges for on-going skills development and supply.
In these circumstances strong co-operation between ICT
companies and the education and training sector is essen-
tial to guarantee that learning and development is flexi-
ble, up-to-date and rapidly responsive to needs.

13. 13
Historically, employment in the sector has been and re-
mains predominantly male. In 2011, only 22% of em-
ployees were women and this has not changed in the
last decade. The Czech Republic, the Netherlands and
Norway are among the countries where the proportion of
women in the sector is below the EU average (EU Skills
Panorama Analytical Highlight. 2012).
The lack of trained female professionals means that in
OECD countries, women now account for less than 20
per cent of ICT specialists. It also means that most de-
veloped countries are forecasting an alarming shortfall in
the number of skilled staff to fill upcoming ICT jobs.
The European Union calculates that in ten years’ time
there will be 700 000 more ICT jobs than there are pro-
fessionals to fill them; globally, that shortfall is estimat-
ed to be closer to two million. One of the reasons why
the ICT sector continues to be generally perceived as a
male-dominated industry is because most high-value and
high-income jobs in this sector are occupied by men (A
Bright Future in ICTs opportunities for a new generation
of women. 2012).
Research conducted for the study made by International
Telecommunication Union, Telecommunication De-
velopment Bureau in both developed and developing
countries found classic cases of vertical gender segrega-
tion, with women strongly represented in lower level
ICT occupations. Although women are making inroads
into technical and senior professions, the study indicat-
ed a ‘feminization’ of lower level jobs. On average, this
research found that women accounted for 30 per cent of
operations technicians, only 15 per cent of managers and
a mere 11 per cent of strategy and planning profession-
als. There is also space for significant improvement in the
number of women holding leadership positions at board
and senior management levels
Gender balance in high value ICT jobs in both manage-
ment and on company boards has been proven to improve
business performance. Studies exploring the link between
women in leadership positions and business performance
have shown a direct positive correlation between gender
balance on top leadership teams and a company’s finan-
cial results. More balanced teams make better informed
decisions, leading to less risk-taking and more successful
outcomes for companies. Over time, therefore, a nation’s
ICT competitiveness depends significantly on whether
and how it educates and utilizes its non-discriminatory
human capital (A Bright Future in ICTs opportunities
for a new generation of women. 2012).
The age profile of employees in the sector is relatively
young, with only 13.7% of the workforce in 2011 aged
50-64 compared to 26.1% across the entire economy
(EU Skills Panorama Analytical Highlight. 2012).
4 Gender Issues

14. 14
Future developments in the ICT sector will be largely
shaped by the following factors (EU Skills Panorama An-
alytical Highlight. 2012):
· The current pathway of development and
growth of the ICT sector in each country
· The speed of technological developments and
the diffusion of ICT-based innovation
· The level of public and private decisions to step
up ICT investments
· Globalisation and general economic trends.
There are important structural differences between coun-
tries in relation to skills demand in the ICT sector. The
demand for skills is likely to be stronger in those coun-
tries which are ‘lagging behind’ and where the economy
is less mature in terms of the adoption and diffusion of
ICT, and which therefore are expected to experience rel-
atively greater growth in demand for computer program-
ming, consultancy and related services.
In other countries where the ICT sector has grown sub-
stantially in recent decades, growth will continue but is
expected to remain modest. For example, the ICT con-
sultancy services sector is expected to remain relatively
stable in Denmark after having experienced a 30% in-
crease since 2005. Similarly in the UK, the ICT services
market is mature and largely saturated and further invest-
ment and innovation will be the key to maintaining or
growing markets. In Norway, the ICT sector has turned
into one of the country’s flagship industries and is expect-
ed to continue as such.
The long-term impact of the current recession on the
ICT sector is relatively hard to assess, past evidence sug-
gests that ICT sector growth rates do follow general eco-
nomic trends, however, the sector has recently performed
better than the overall economy. Indeed, ICT companies
were better equipped to deal with the current recession
by comparison with the situation observed after the 2001
‘dot-com’ crisis.
The computing services sector will continue to expand in
the EU. Employment growth of 7.6% is forecast, from
3 million workers in the sector in 2010 to 3.2 million in
2020. Compared with the average of 3.4% employment
growth forecast across all sectors, ICT will be one of the
fastest growing sectors in Europe.
Emerging demand for ICT services in countries locat-
ed outside ‘mature’ European markets could lead ICT
companies to open new research centres and branches in
these new markets. Off-shoring of ICT services is also
considered to be an important trend for the sector. While
the manufacturing of computer hardware has been off-
shored for some time, the relocation of the ICT service
industry outside Europe is a more recent phenomenon.
The growth of off-shoring activities depends on several
factors such as the availability of skills in the offshore lo-
cation, local ICT infrastructure and the success of devel-
opments such as cloud computing or utility computing
and whether or not services are suitable to be provided
from a distance. Off-shoring of ICT services is expect-
5 Skills Forecasting &
Anticipation in ICT sector

15. 15
ed to remain relatively limited as a proportion of overall
ICT services revenues. The impact of off-shoring on the
European ICT sector labour market thus far has not been
negative as indeed, the sector has expanded at the same
time as relocations have taken place. Going forward, the
EU is more likely to off-shore mature, low value add-
ed ICT services (with lower profit margins) to non-EU
countries while exporting higher value added new and
innovative ICT services.
In the medium term, the outlook for the ICT sector
will remain positive, as demonstrated by these country
examples (EU Skills Panorama Analytical Highlight.
2012):
· In Cyprus, the ICT sector is expected to be one of
10 high growth sectors. Employment in the sec-
tor is expected to grow by 3.4% per year between
2010 and 2020. During this period, there will be
increasing demand of 5% per year for ICT man-
agers, 3% per year for Analysts and Programmers
and 5% per year for ICT assistant technicians and
for PC assistant technicians.
· In France, the ICT sector is expected to create
around 81,000 net new jobs during 2010 - 2020,
from a base of 534,000 jobs in 2010. The jobs
created in the ICT sector are expected to consti-
tute around 5% of the 1.5 million net new jobs
anticipated by 2020.
· In Ireland, strong growth in the demand for soft-
ware engineering professionals (42.4%) and com-
puter associate professionals (25%) is anticipated.
The ICT sector has to some extent recovered the
job losses suffered after the 2008 downturn.
· In the UK, after a period of a decline, output
levels in the ICT sector are expected to pick up
significantly in the coming decade. The net im-
pact on employment is modest in relation to the
pre-recession growth. Professional occupations
are still expected to dominate the sector. The
occupational structure of the sector favours the
highest-qualified. This is expected to continue,
moving from the current 55% of employees being
highly-qualified to 60% by 2020. Intermediate
level qualifications are anticipated to fall signifi-
cantly (to under 20% of the workforce), while the
share of low level qualifications are projected to
rise slightly.
5.1 Up skilling and the need for a
non-technical and soft skills
The ICT sector relies on a mix of hard technical and soft
skills among its workforce, with a trend towards general
up-skilling across the different categories of ICT occu-
pations. The numbers of less knowledge intensive ICT
jobs are expected to fall as the structure of skills demand
changes. The demand for low-end developers and data-
base administrators are expected to be replaced by de-
mand for business analysts, sales specialists and high-end
developers. There has been a shift in the skills mix of the
sector with lower-skilled jobs being replaced by high-
er-skilled jobs and that up-skilling is expected to contin-
ue in the foreseeable future.
As demand for specialist skills evolves very quickly in the
ICT sector, the risk of skills obsolescence is particular-
ly important. Recently, growing needs have been iden-
tified for ‘hard’ ICT professional skills in fields such as
data privacy, server technology, general networking and
network infrastructure. For example in the UK, studies
have identified increased demand for ICT professionals
with technical skills especially those linked to Microsoft
products. Due to the increased application of ICT across
all economic sectors, specialist ICT technical skills are
becoming increasingly transferable outside the core ICT
sector increasing demand and competition for skills.
According to both European and national evidence, a
range of soft skills will become increasingly important for
both ICT specialists and the rest of the sector’s workforce.
In the UK, interpersonal skills and sales-related skills are
seen as key shortages by ICT sector employers. The key
non-IT skills in demand in the ICT sector include:
· Business skills – including creativity and inno-
vation, customer service skills and sales
· Project management and administration –
including organisational, managerial and finan-
cial skills
· Communication – including verbal and writ-
ten presentation to internal and external audi-
ences, ability to work collaboratively with other
employees;
· Foreign language skills

16. 16
5.2 Current and forecasted labour and
skills demand in the ICT sector
Across the EU, the sector has experienced continuous
growth. Between 2000 and 2011, the sector gained
around 600,000 additional workers - a growth of 29 %.
However, the trend across individual countries differs
significantly, from substantial sector growth in Slovenia,
Slovakia and Portugal to zero growth in the UK, Roma-
nia and Italy and a small decline in Denmark and Ice-
land. Some countries have mature ICT sectors, whereas
in others the sector has only recently developed.
Increasing demand for ICT professionals in the sector
Recent recruitment trends in the ICT sector reveal an in-
creasing demand for ICT professionals, as demonstrated
in the following country examples:
· In Belgium, 71% of ICT sector enterprises report-
ed serious problems in representatives, analysts/
programmers, project leaders and IT technicians
while the larger ICT enterprises require develop-
ers/analysts programmers and IT project leaders.
· In Ireland, vacancies in the sector have increased
notably since the 2008 global financial crisis. Va-
cancies are reported for programmers and soft-
ware developers, network experts, IT business an-
alysts, architects and systems designers, IT project
managers and multilingual IT technical support.
· In Italy, almost four fifths of total hires in the ICT
sector in 2011 were in high skilled occupations.
· In Slovakia, ICT companies in the eastern Slo-
vakia region planned to increase the number of
workers by 40.4% in 2009 (some 1,068 new
jobs). In absolute terms, most new jobs were ex-
pected for IT technicians, programmers and tes-
ters.
· In Slovenia, computer engineers were the ninth
most sought after occupation in 2011.
· In Norway, quarterly ICT industry job vacancies
grew by 35% from an average of 2,300 in 2010 to
3,100 in 2011.
-20
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
ISDKITROUKNLSEIENOEEFRBEDEFILTHUMTELPLLUBGATCZHRESCYLVPTSKSI
Chart no 4 : growth in employment in computer programming, consultancy and related activities from 2000 – 2011 (%)
Source: Eurostat, Labour force survey

17. 17
Based on the present case study the key recommenda-
tions are being made and are illustrated in the chart no 5.
The key measures in order to assure better matching of
the required skills from the side of employers and skills
and knowledge of the young graduates can be summed
up in the following 4 points:
- Appropriate policy measures to boost youth
employment and to promote entrepreneurship
- Improvement of cooperation between employ-
ers and educational organizations and stronger
involvement of the employers to the drafting of
the study programmes
- Introduction of measures and promotion in
order to attract more women in ICT related
studies
- Promotion of STEM (science, technology, engi-
neering, and math) fields of study among young
people to bridge the shortage of skills
6 Recommendations
High overall
unemployment
rate in youth
population across
the EU
Growth of demand
of high-level skills
and non-ICT skills
in ICT sector
ICT sector as a
male-dominated
sector
Existence of hard
to fill vacancies
Policy measures
to boost youth
employment and
to promote
entrepreneurship
Improvement of
mutual
communication
between
employers and
educ. org.
Introduction of
measures to
attract more
women in ICT
Promotion of
STEM fields of
study among
young
Chart no 5: key recommendations

18. 18
Reforming education systems and increasing digital
skills learning opportunities will help prepare young
Europeans for the jobs of both today and tomorrow.
The European commission warns that by 2015 Eu-
rope will lack up to 900,000 ICT professionals, a
shortfall that will be aggravated by a projected de-
cline in computer science graduates.
This situation is a result not only of the economic
crisis experienced in some member states, but also
of an opportunity divide or a gap between those
who have the access, skills, and opportunities to be
successful and those who do not. The main question
that policymakers and industry leaders must now
tackle is how to close this gap during times of eco-
nomic downturn?
The European commission’s recently announced
“opening up education” initiative is a step in the
right direction. The initiative will integrate existing
and new actions to promote the use of ICT and
open educational resources in education and train-
ing. “Opening up Education” will also be designed
to address common challenges faced by several ed-
ucation sectors (schools, vocational and education
training, higher education, adult education) and to
support sectors as they address their own specific
needs.
Young Europeans have got talent. But often they
lack the digital skills they need to excel in the jobs
of today and tomorrow. Reforming European ed-
ucation systems and increasing adaptive-learning
components will help close the opportunity divide.
Technology is both the key and the vehicle for mak-
ing this happen. It is clear that ICT can upgrade
the quality of education in several ways - includ-
ing more personalised learning programmes, which
would address the individual needs and interests of
students, widening access to education through in-
ternet and cloud computing as well as facilitating
global collaboration among students through com-
munication platforms such as Skype.
Overall, we need to create a level playing field for
young Europeans, by offering them digital skills
which will lay the foundations for their profession-
al success. The issue is urgent: the European com-
mission estimates that by 2020 as much as 90 per
cent of jobs in the EU will require digital skills.
Closing the gap between demand and supply of
these skills is a challenging goal which cannot be
achieved by a single government, sector or organi-
sation alone. Decision makers from the public and
private sector must join forces to pool their resourc-
es and expertise to help pupils, students and teach-
ers to fully benefit from the digital revolution.
7 Conclusions

19. 19
1. Afke Schaart. September 2013. The Parliament
Digital skills crucial in closing ‘opportunity divide’
for EU’s youth unemployed http://www.thepar-
liament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/
digital-skills-crucial-in-closing-opportunity-divi-
de-for-eus-youth-unemployed/#.UkWv535BuIc
2. Der Spiegel. Alexander Demling. 2013. Distorted
Stats: Europe’s Youth Unemployment Fallacy.
3. E-skills. 2012. Diagnosis about the improvement
of employment opportunities for young people in the
ICT sector
4. EU Skills Panorama. 2012. Information and Com-
munications Technologies (ICT) Sector Analytical
Highlight, prepared by ICF GHK for the Europe-
an Commission
5. Eurofound report. 2012. NEETs – Young people
not in employment, education or training: Charac-
teristics, costs and policy responses in Europe
6. European Commission - Employment, Social Af-
fairs & Inclusion - Youth employment: http://ec.eu-
ropa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1036&langId=en
7. Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA.
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Educa-
tion and Research EAER:
http://www.contribution-enlargement.admin.ch/
en/Home/Projects/Focus_on_projects/Reform_
of_the_Slovakian_vocational_education_system
8. InoPlaCe project: www.inoplace.eu
9. International Telecommunication Union. Tele-
communication Development Bureau. 2012. A
Bright Future in ICTs opportunities for a new gen-
eration of women. DIGITAL INCLUSION 2012.
Geneva.
10. Košice IT Valley. 2009. Identifikacia sucasnych a
ocakavanych potrieb firiem v oblasti informacnych
a komunikacnych technologii v regione vychodneho
Slovenska (‘Identification of current and expected
needs of enterprises in the ICT sector in Eastern Slo-
vakia’): http://www.kosiceitvalley.sk/public/File/
identIT/IdentIT-online.pdf
11. Max Uebe. 2012. Speech: Conference “Working
together to foster youth employment” 13 November
2012. European Commission
12. Monika Martišková. 2013. EU’s Youth Guarantee
is Unlikely to Dramatically Help Slovakia’s Young
Unemployed. Visegrad Economy. 15.2.2013.
13. Slovak investment and trade development agency
- SARIO: http://www.sario.sk/?ict-en
14. European Commission – education and culture.
2013. “Opening up Education – a proposal for a
European Initiative to enhance education and skills
development through new technologies”
8 References