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IT skills shortfall in Northern Ireland
Get tech-savvy or suffer, says e-skills UK

By Gemma Simpson

Published: Friday 09 February 2007

Northern Ireland needs to buff up its IT skills to keep up its economic prosperity, according to research.

The IT industry will grow at more than three times the rate of overall employment growth in Northern Ireland with nearly 2,000 more people needed each year to enter the IT workforce, e-skills UK has predicted.

But the number of people choosing to study technology-related subjects continues to fall.

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A 10-year action plan - called the Sector Skills Agreement (SSA) for IT in Northern Ireland - has been drawn up to encourage more people to enter IT and make the existing workforce more tech-savvy in Northern Ireland.

More than a quarter of businesses in Northern Ireland were found to have employees who lack the everyday IT skills to do their jobs, according to e-skills UK.

The SSA said managers and universities need to get together to ensure higher education institutes understand what employers want from IT grads - and career advisors need to do more to promote IT job options.

Karen Price, CEO of e-skills UK, said the entire Northern Ireland economy is dependent on having a workforce with the right IT skills.

Despite a technical skills shortage IT graduates in the UK have the highest unemployment rate across all degree subjects - including performing arts and media studies.