14 DAY TRIAL // Information and communication technologies skills will be critical for the next generation of workers in Europe in the next five years, according to Microsoft. Half a decade from now, only 10% of all employees across European markets will not have any ICT skills at all, revealed Global IT research firm IDC in a study, entitled “Post Crisis: e-Skills are Needed to Drive Europe's Innovation Society” and commissioned by Microsoft. By 2015, over 90% of jobs in the European Union will require workers to be increasingly familiarized with technology compared to employees at the end of this decade.
“ICT skills are vital to the next generation of workers and to build Europe’s innovation society. We know that technology trends will drive the need for better ICT skills amongst the workforce,” emphasized Jan Muehlfeit, chairman of Europe, Microsoft. “Governments must continue to invest in education and training to ensure workers are equipped for meaningful employment.”
Of course, actual skills are developed through training and education, and in this regard, Microsoft emphasized the need for ICT to be regarded as a critical priority for educational organizations in the EU, as they will certainly be for employers and job prospectors. In this regard, Microsoft informed that the percentage of jobs that require no ICT skills is not only already on a downward trajectory, but that lit will continue to spiral further down as employers will require their workers to be capable of handling new examples of technology and devices.
In 5 years’ time, an average of 31% of employees will be expected to be able to handle technology-based devices, with another 28% estimated to already account for basic ICT skills. Of course, outside of the 10% of workers that will have no ICT skills at all, the rest up to 100% will offer employers advanced ICT skills.
“We must now take measures to counteract the negative effects of the economic crisis on employment by making our labour markets structurally stronger, increase access to employment and promote skilling and re-skilling of the labour force,” commented State Secretary at the Swedish Ministry of Employment, Dr. Eva Uddén Sonnegård.
The IDC study indicates a disparity between Western and Central and Eastern Europe, across the 13 EU countries surveyed. For the time being, markets in former communist regime countries continue to put less focus on ICT skills compared to Western Europe. Still, Microsoft indicates that the level of ICT skill requirements will be equal by 2010, in both Western and Central and Eastern Europe.