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Britain is facing an IT skills gap in the workforce that threatens to damage global competitiveness within 10 years if not addressed, according to a new report from E-Skills. Some 76 per cent of companies with hard-to fill IT vacancies have had to delay the development of new products and services while 42 per cent have suffered an increase in their operating costs. Over a quarter of companies are suffering from a lack of everyday IT user skills within their organisations, with just under half reporting their staff were not proficient in using basic word-processing applications. “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 at E-Skills. She claims there is a tendency to dismiss the subject of skills as a “soft issue” that has no real impact on the economy. She argues this could lead to “catastrophic damage” of the UK economy if the country fails to upgrade its computer skills. “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.” According to the study of more than 3,200 companies, finding skilled technical staff with valuable management experience was also a problem. “We can get the people in with IT skills but then we need to wrap other things around them,” said Larry Hirst, chief executive of IBM and chairman of E-Skills. “The skills we are short of are way up the value chain, such as project management.” The research, which draws on evidence from Gartner Consulting, also shows a declining level of potential new entrants to the industry with university acceptance places on a downward spiral. In 2000, some 29,000 places were granted compared to the figure last year of 22,500. The industry needs up to 179,000 entrants each year but only 18,000 students graduated in IT last year. Women were also found to be in short supply in the industry, as only 20 per cent of the current workforce is female. Across all age and gender groups, it is predicted 1.4m people need to upgrade their computer skills within the next three years. E-skills said it has drawn up nine skills conclusions from the study and will publish an ‘action plan’ for employers, government and the education sector following regional consultation. They said with help from Gartner their findings would be presented to Secretary of State for Education, Charles Clarke, and 30 of the UK’s university vice-chancellors to discuss the implications for the university sector. The group also plans to tell the government about possible solutions by next March, including how to get more people into the industry, improving teaching in schools and helping the workforce keep up to date with their skills. Nov 3, 2004 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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