Debate: IT skills shortage threatens growth

Digital inclusion Skills supply

70,000 experts will be missing in the digital sector by 2022. Measures are now needed to remedy the IT skills shortage, write representatives of a large number of companies in the IT & Telecom companies in SvD Debatt today.

Properly harnessed and prioritized, digitalization can help solve our most important and pressing societal problems and challenges. Many people work every day to make this happen. Interaction designers package the stylish and user-friendly services that make Sweden a leader in digital service development. Skilled data analysts are figuring out how to use the ocean of information now available to create a more sustainable world. Support engineers ensure that we overcome the barriers for everyone to access the enormous benefits of digital services. IT architects make sure to solve complicated system nodes in health and social care so that elderly, sick and disabled people can take giant leaps in their quality of life.

And above all, a very large group of programmers and system developers are the engine behind the creation of digital products and services.

The IT and telecom sector currently accounts for almost half of productivity growth in Sweden and development is accelerating. Together with the fact that much of the digital development is now taking place outside the actual IT and telecom industry, for example in industry, logistics, trade, finance and the public sector, we can now talk about a digital sector that employs over 300,000 people.

That sounds like a lot, but unfortunately it is far from enough. There is an acute shortage of all the roles mentioned in the introduction in Sweden. As many as 70,000 experts will be missing by 2022, unless active efforts are made, according to our new report on the Swedish digital sector's need for excellence.

We who represent the IT and telecom industry have sounded the alarm before, but unfortunately we see that the measures that have actually been put in place and what we ourselves can do in the industry are not enough to create the supply of skills that are necessary to meet the needs.

We therefore call for a number of active measures from politicians and authorities, which we see as absolutely necessary if the IT skills shortage is not to accelerate further and have very negative consequences for Sweden's competitiveness and welfare. Our proposed measures are:

1. stronger overall investment in digitalization:

  • Empower all public sector decision-makers to understand the impact of digitalization on their business and how they can use innovation to improve it.
  • Strengthen the coordination between the Ministries of Education, Employment and Economy.
  • Streamline inter-agency cooperation - start by redefining the role of the Public Employment Service.

2. investing in education, youth and career choices:

  • Implement the government's national strategy for the digitalization of the school system, with a focus on improving the skills of teachers and school leaders.
  • Fundamentally reform teacher education, with digitalization as a core component.
  • Engage more closely with the world of work to ensure young people's diverse, non-prejudiced and non-gender-stereotyped perceptions of careers.

3.Investing in higher education and models for career-long learning:

  • Establish a Continuing Education Commission to promote lifelong learning.
  • Provide students in higher education with better preparation for the world of work, including skills training during their studies.
  • Prioritize high quality tertiary education.

4.Promoting migration and integration:

  • Develop a national strategy for talent attraction.
  • Aim for an increase of at least 10,000 more top international students applying to Swedish universities.

We look forward to a continued active dialogue with decision-makers across all sectors to jointly find solutions, but before that, we would like to strongly emphasize the importance that all leaders must now "get it" and recognize the status of digitalization as a top priority and strategic leadership issue. Still, the mindset that this is an issue for the "IT department" dominates to a devastating degree.

/Representatives of the Board of Directors of IT&Telecom companies and the IT Skills Council:

Glenn Arnesen
CEO IFS

Stefan Bäcktorp
CEO Broadband Group

Hélène Barnekow
CEO Telia Sweden

Håkan Dahlström
CEO Tieto Sweden

Joacim Damgard
CEO Microsoft Sweden

Richard Eklind
CEO OneAgency

Anders Englund
CEO Attentec

Marie Eriksson
Director Dfind Group

Niklas Flyborg
President and CEO Cybercom Group

Pär Fors
CEO CGI Sweden, Chairman of the Board IT&Telekomföretagen

Georgi Ganev
CEO Dustin

Sofia Gerstenfeld
CEO Visma Enterprise

Carl-Johan Hamilton
Founder and Deputy CEO of Ants, Chairman of the IT & Telecom Companies IT Competence Council

Staffan Hanstorp
Chairman of the Board Addnode Group

Patrik Hofbauer
CEO Telenor Sweden

Carl-Johan Hultenheim
CEO Atea

Per Johanson
Member of the Board of Almega

Lars Kry
CEO Sigma IT Consulting

Magnus Larsson
CEO Expander Business Consulting

Jonna Nordén
CEO Bouvet Sweden

David Mothander
Director of IT & Telecommunications

Ulf Pehrsson
Vice President Ericsson

Johan Rittner
CEO IBM Sweden

Thorbjörn Sagner
CEO Eltel Networks Infranet

Karin Schreil Jonsson
CEO Fujitsu Sweden

Joel Sommerfeldt
President and CEO Axiell Group

Anna Wikland
CEO Google Sweden