ICT education - astatistical overview Statistics Explained

Source : Statistics Explained (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/) - 11/10/2019 1

Data extracted in September 2019.Planned article update: September 2020.

This article provides an overview of recent developments in relation to digital skills within the European Union(EU) . More specifically, it presents a range of statistics that describe the composition of the EU labour forcein possession of an information and communication technology (ICT) education, as defined by those havingachieved formal qualifications at least at upper secondary level within the fields of computer use, computer sci-ence, database and network design and administration, or software and applications development and analysis.Many countries now regard understanding ICT and mastering the basic skills and concepts of ICT as part ofcore education, alongside reading, writing and numeracy, while prosperous countries, businesses and individualsare often characterised by developing advanced ICT skills as a key factor of their success.

With the increased application of digital technologies into a broad range of economic sectors such as man-ufacturing, energy, retail, transport, finance, education and healthcare, as well as the ICT sector itself, therehas been rapid growth in the demand for ICT specialists . This has had a profound impact on the types ofskills that are sought by employers across the EU, while policymakers have become increasingly concerned bydigital skills shortages , which may result, among others, in less innovation, lower levels of productivity or sloweroverall economic growth.

General developments in the labour force for people with an ICT educationThe EU-28 labour force is composed of persons who are in employment and those who are unemployed. In2008, the EU-28 labour force (or the total number of economically active persons) that were in possession ofan ICT education numbered 2.3 million persons; this number rose to nearly 3.1 million persons by 2018. (seeFigure 1). Of these, some 2.8 million persons aged 15-74 in the EU-28 were employed and in possession of anICT education in 2018; by contrast, there were 208 000 persons with an ICT education who were unemployed.

Figure 1: Developments for employed and unemployed persons with an ICT education, EU-28,2008-2018(thousands)Source: Eurostat (isoc_ski_itemp)

During the period 2008-2018, the unemployment rate for people with an ICT education increased due to theglobal financial and economic crisis from 6.9 % in 2008 to a peak of 11.1 % in 2012. From 2012, the labourmarket for people with an ICT education started to expand, resulting in a decrease in the unemployment ratefor this group. The growth in the number of employed persons with an ICT education was particularly rapidin 2016, when it rose by 8.3 % compared with the year before. This was the highest employment growth ratesince 2008. After a marked slowdown in the pace of growth in 2017, the share of employed persons with an ICTeducation recovered in 2018, presenting the highest rate ever reached during the decade with 93.2%.

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Table 1: Share of employed persons with an ICT education by sex, educational attainmentlevel and age, 2008 and 2018(%)Source: Eurostat (isoc_ski_itsex), (isoc_ski_itedu) and(isoc_ski_itage)

Relatively high unemployment rates in southern EU Member States for persons with an ICTeducation

While there was an overall increase between 2008 and 2018 in the size of the EU-28 labour force with anICT education, there were varied developments across the EU Member States. In 2018, the share of the labourforce with an ICT education who were in employment — as opposed to being unemployed — was 97.0 % orhigher in Czechia (with the highest rate of 98.7 % ), Germany and Hungary. By contrast, a relatively high shareof persons with an ICT education were unemployed in 2018 in Croatia (10.9 %) — as well as four southernMember States —Spain (11.0 %), Portugal (13.4 %), Italy (14.4 %), and most notably Greece (which had thehighest rate, at 22.8 %).

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Figure 2: Share of the labour force with an ICT education by labour status, 2018(%)Source:Eurostat (isoc_ski_itemp)

A comparison between 2008 and 2018 based on the share of the labour force with an ICT education who werein employment reveals there was little overall change in the situation at EU-28 level. Some 93.1 % of the EU-28labour force with an ICT education were employed in 2008, while a decade later this share was 0.1 percentagepoints higher, at 93.2 % in 2018.

Between 2008 and 2018, the share of the labour force with an ICT education that was employed rose by7.0 percentage points in Slovakia (to 95.6 %), by 4.7 points in Croatia (to 89.1 %) and by 4.5 points in Germany(to 97.4 %) — see Figure 3. By contrast, the biggest reduction (8.6 percentage points) was recorded in Greecewhere the share of those employed fell to 77.2 %, while there were also relatively large declines in Italy (-5.2points) closely followed by Spain, Denmark, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Estonia.

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Figure 3: Share of employed persons in the labour force with an ICT education, 2008 and2018(%)Source: Eurostat (isoc_ski_itemp)

Employed persons with an ICT education by sexMen accounted for more than four fifths of the total number of employed persons in the EU withan ICT education

In 2018, men accounted for an 84.6 % share of the 2.8 million persons in the EU-28 who were employedand in possession of an ICT education (see Figure 4), leaving women to account for the remaining 15.4 % ofthe labour force who were employed with an ICT education. This gender gap was present in each of the EUMember States in 2018, with Belgium recording the highest share (92.6 %) for men in the total number ofemployed persons, followed by Latvia (90.6 %) and Poland (90.4 %). The share of men in the total number ofemployed persons with an ICT education ranged from 70-90 % in each of the remaining EU Member States.Women accounted for more than one-fifth of the employed persons with an ICT education in Spain, Sweden,Greece, Malta, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland and in Romania, where the highest share (26,6 %) was registered.

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Figure 4: Share of employed persons with an ICT education by sex, 2018(%)Source: Eurostat(isoc_ski_itsex)

Although a range of policy initiatives has been enacted across the EU in order to promote ICT studies amongwomen, the latest statistical data available reveals that between 2008 and 2018 there was a decline in the numberof women with an ICT education who were employed in the EU-28. On average, this number fell by 0.8 % perannum during the period under consideration, while the number of men who were employed and possessed anICT education grew by an average of 3.5 % per annum (see Figure 5).

These patterns for the EU-28 hide the fact that between 2008 and 2018 the number of persons employedwith an ICT education grew, on average, for both men and women in 8 out of the 18 EU Member States, forwhich data is available. For the rest of the Member States with present data, two cases emerged: there was areduction in the number of women employed while there was an increase in the number of men employed (inEstonia, Ireland, Poland, Hungary, Cyprus, Portugal, Belgium and Greece); there was a reduction in both thenumber of men and women employed (in the United Kingdom, Italy and Romania).

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Figure 5: Average annual rate of change for the number of persons employed with an ICTeducation by sex, 2008-2018(%)Source: Eurostat (isoc_ski_itsex)

Employed persons with an ICT education by level of educational attainmentMore tertiary graduates in ICT over time

In 2018, almost three quarters (72.8 %) of employed persons in the EU-28 with an ICT education had atertiary level of educational attainment (see Figure 6). This was 5.3 percentage points higher than a decadebefore, when the corresponding share was 67.5 %.

There were however considerable variations between EU Member States as regards levels of educational at-tainment: in 2018, more than 9 out of 10 employed persons with an ICT education in France (98.7 %), Cyprus(96.0 %), Lithuania (91.4 %) and Bulgaria (91.1 %) had completed a tertiary level of education. By contrast,a majority of those employed with an ICT education in Portugal (74.5 %) and Italy (64.5 %) did not have atertiary level of education.

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Figure 6: Share of employed persons with an ICT education by educational attainment level,2018(%)Source: Eurostat (isoc_ski_itedu)

Between 2008 and 2018, the number of employed persons in the EU-28 with an ICT education at tertiary levelgrew, on average, by 3.5 % per annum; the corresponding rate of change for persons employed with an uppersecondary and post-secondary non-tertiary level of educational attainment was lower, at 0.9 % per annum (seeFigure 7). The three highest average annual growth rates for the number of employed persons with an ICTeducation at tertiary level were recorded in Bulgaria (19.1 % per annum), Slovakia (15.9 % per annum) andCzechia (14.6 % per annum), while double-digit growth rates were also recorded in Slovenia, Croatia, Malta,Luxembourg, and Finland. By contrast, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Romania were the only MemberStates to report a decline in their number of persons employed with an ICT education at tertiary level duringthe period 2008-2018.

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Figure 7: Average annual rate of change for the number of employed persons with an ICTeducation by educational attainment level, 2008-2018(%)Source: Eurostat (isoc_ski_itedu)

Employed persons with an ICT education by ageTwo thirds of the total number of employed persons in the EU with an ICT education were aged15-34 years

In 2018, two out of every three (66.6 %) employed persons in the EU-28 with an ICT education were aged15-34 years. Moreover, young people of this age accounted for a majority of the employed persons in possessionof an ICT education in all but one of the EU Member States, the exception being Finland, where young peopleaccounted for 42.8 % of those employed with an ICT education. The share of young people in the total numberof people employed with an ICT education was often relatively low in the Nordic and western EU MemberStates in 2018.

By contrast, those aged 15-34 years accounted for more than three quarters of the total number of employedpersons with an ICT education in eleven of the EU Member States in 2018: five eastern Member States (Croa-tia, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Slovenia), two of the three Baltic Member States (Latvia and Lithuania),three southern Member States (Malta, Greece and Portugal) and one western Member State (Belgium). Thehighest shares were recorded in Latvia (89.4 %), Malta (86.5 %) and Croatia (83.2 %).

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Figure 8: Share of employed persons with an ICT education by age, 2018(%)Source: Eurostat(isoc_ski_itage)

During the period 2008 to 2018, the number of young employed persons with an ICT education rose, on average,by 1.5 % per annum across the EU-28, while the corresponding increase for those aged 35-74 years was 5.6 %per annum. During this period, the overall number of persons aged 15-34 years who were employed with an ICTeducation grew by 260 000, while the number of persons aged 35-74 years increased by 400 000. As a result,between 2008 and 2018 the share of young people aged 15-34 years in the total number of persons employedwith an ICT education in the EU-28 fell from 74.9 % to 66.6 %.

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Figure 9: Average annual rate of change for the number of persons employed with an ICTeducation by age, 2008-2018(%)Source: Eurostat (isoc_ski_itage)

Source data for tables and graphs• Persons with an ICT education: tables and figures

Data sourcesThe data used in this article are derived from the EU Labour Force Survey (LFS) . The information presentedis based on microdata from the LFS and covers the population aged 15-74 in order to be aligned with a rangeof other indicators relating to digital skills which are collected as part of the Community survey on ICT usagein households and by individuals .

Within the LFS, the labour force — or economically active population — covers the sum of employed andunemployed persons; it therefore excludes persons who are economically inactive, such as students, peoplechoosing not to work, and the retired.

Employment is defined as persons aged 15-74 who were in one of the following categories: (a) persons whoduring the reference week worked for at least one hour for pay or profit or family gain or (b) persons who werenot at work during the reference week but had a job or business from which they were temporarily absent.As such, the total number of employed persons includes employees, self-employed persons and family workers.Note that the collection of statistics on employed persons with an ICT education is carried out across the wholeeconomy and no information is collected as to the principal economic activity in which each person works;equally, the data collection exercise does not provide information in relation to the occupations/tasks that arecarried out (in other words, it is possible that some employed persons with an ICT education made little or nouse of their studies in their work).

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Unemployed persons comprise those aged 15-74 who: (a) were not employed according to the definition ofemployment above; (b) were currently available for work; (c) actively sought work during the four-week periodprior to the reference week; or (d) had found a job to start within a period of at most three months from theend of the reference week.

ICT education is defined in terms of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) fieldsof education. For data prior to 2014, ICT education covers computer science and computer use. However, from2014 onwards, the field of ICT education covers computer use, database and network design and administration,software and applications development and analysis, inter-disciplinary programmes and qualifications. As such,there is a break in series in 2014 for the EU-28 aggregate, as well as for each of the individual EU MemberStates, EFTA and candidate countries.

Levels of education refer to the educational attainment of a person, in other words, to the highest level ofeducation successfully completed. The levels are defined in terms of the ISCED 2011 classification, with ter-tiary education comprising ISCED levels 5-8 and non-tertiary education comprising ISCED levels 3 and 4 (uppersecondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education). In addition the EU’s LFS does not collect data on fieldsof education for those people with less than primary or lower secondary educational attainment.

For data on educational attainment based on the EU’s LFS, ISCED 2011 is applied as of reference year 2014.For data up to reference year 2013, ISCED 1997 is used. Comparability over time has been impacted by a breakin series due to the introduction of the revised version of ISCED and the introduction of an age filter (for thevariable describing the field of education). The impact of this change on ICT education statistics is minimaldue to the applied aggregation approach: data is broken down into two educational attainment level groups, (1)upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (ISCED levels 3 and 4) and (2) tertiary education(ISCED levels 5-8), which means that the coding changes within the classifications occurred within these twogroups (rather than across different groups). This is the case for all countries except Austria, where a level shiftbreak took place due to the reclassification of a programme spanning different levels: the qualification acquiredupon successful completion of higher technical and vocational colleges is allocated in ISCED 2011 to ISCEDlevel 5, whereas under ISCED 1997 the same qualification was reported at ISCED level 4 (but earmarked asequivalent to tertiary education).

The introduction of ISCED-F 2013 may have an impact on EU LFS data from 2016 onwards. However, thischange has no impact on ICT education indicators due to the direct correspondence between codes for this fieldof education in the two versions of the classification.

Data for reference period 2014 onwards introduce an age filter for the variable that describes the field ofeducation: from 2014 onwards, the field of education is reported only for respondents who completed their high-est level of educational attainment either before they reached 34 years old or within the 15 years preceding thesurvey year. This change has a marginal effect on the ICT education data, except for an analysis of employedpersons with an ICT education by age (isoc_ski_itage).

ContextDigitalisation and automation can generate new business opportunities through the development of new pro-duction processes, new products and new markets. This may drive the demand for new skills in the workplace,which in turn leads to changes in education systems which may have to adapt to technological changes in orderto provide students with up-to-date training and education that meets the requirements of prospective employers.

In recent years, EU policies have given greater attention to ICT skills and in particular to the employmentof ICT specialists. The recently updated Digital Single Market strategy emphasises the need for policies de-signed to boost stability in European labour markets and improve the EU’s competitive position by promotingdigitalisation. At the same time, an important objective of European employment policy is to ensure thatworkers in the EU-28 acquire higher-end skills. The New Skills Agenda for Europe (2016) launched a number ofactions to ensure that the right training, the right skills and the right support is available for people in the EU.One such action, the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition supports cooperation between education, employmentand industry to develop a pool of digital talent in the EU-28, while ensuring that individuals and the labourforce in general are equipped with adequate digital skills. The European Commission is bringing together EUMember States and a range of stakeholders to pledge actions and to monitor progress in developing digital skills

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through its Digital Progress Report and the Digital Economy and Society Index .

Other articles• ICT specialists in employment

• ICT specialists - statistics on hard-to-fill vacancies in enterprises

Database• Digital economy and society (isoc) , see:

Science, technology, digital society

Digital economy and society (isoc)

Digital skills (isoc_sk)ICT training (isoc_skt)

Persons with ICT education by labour status (isoc_ski_itemp)Employed persons with ICT education by sex (isoc_ski_itsex)Employed persons with ICT education by educational attainment level (isoc_ski_itedu)Employed persons with ICT education by age (isoc_ski_itage)

Dedicated section• Digital economy and society

Methodology• ICT training (ESMS metadata file — isoc_skt_esms)

• Employment and unemployment (labour force survey) (ESMS metadata file — employ_esms)

• ICT employment statistics in Europe: measurement methodology

Legislation• Working together to strengthen human capital, employability and competitiveness (COM(2016 381 final)

External links• Digital Agenda for Europe

• Digital Single Market

• Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition

• European e-Competence Framework

• Skills Panorama

• The e-skills strategy

• The New Skills Agenda for Europe (2016)

• Innovating education and educating for innovation — the power of digital technologies and skills (OECD)

• OECD Digital Economy Outlook (OECD)

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• Students, Computers and Learning (OECD)

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