Skills shortage in focus when IT Skills Council visited by State Secretary
- "Our studies show that the shortage is huge, there is a lack of 70,000 IT specialists by 2024 and it affects not only companies in the tech industry, but all of Sweden and our welfare," said TechSverige's business policy expert Ana Andric.
Several of TechSverige's member companies testified to the extreme situation in the aftermath of the pandemic, where accelerated digitalization has increased demand for their services. The harsh truth is that companies are finding it difficult to deliver - or, in the worst case, are forced to turn down assignments - due to the difficulty of finding the right skills. In the long run, this affects the whole of Sweden, as both companies and public actors in a wide variety of industries - many of which have important social missions - are dependent on delivery.
Heavy impact on the whole society
- "We have clients in the healthcare, education and energy sectors - important societal functions - and huge demand for our services. But if we don't get the skills we need, we can't fill the assignments and then it will have a major impact on society as a whole," said Anna Gulliksen, head of recruitment at Tieto Evry, a consulting company that employs 4,500 people in Sweden and currently has 330 vacant IT positions.
- The shortage is particularly acute for developers, but also for architects, analysts, project managers and testers. If we can't find them, we'll have to postpone projects or outsource jobs.
Beatrice Silow, Head of Communications and Culture at Nexer Group, shared the same experience.
- We have a growth rate of over 35%, which is a lot, but it could have been even higher if we had been able to recruit more people with the skills we need. To at least partially solve the problem, we are looking for employees from India, Brazil, Poland and Ukraine," she said.
Johan Liberson, Sales Director at Ework, a consultancy, said he was aware of the skills shortage in the public sector, which is also affected by costly lock-in effects in various assignments. Entrepreneur Yashar Moradbahkti of Lingio noted that fast-growing start-ups and scale-ups are largely ensuring their need for quick access to skills by hiring foreign-born people and providing ongoing skills development where necessary.
- We need to continue to do this, but we will also need more new forms of education and training, so that people can quickly switch tracks and learn in mid-life and change careers," he concluded.
Calls for action on the education front
TechSverige's studies show that more people need to be educated in tech - and that more people need to finish their studies. Higher education has an important role in the supply of skills in the tech industry. More people need to apply for tech education, and more people need to finish their studies. New statistics compiled by TechSverige show that dropouts from university IT programs are strikingly high, especially in the early stages. It is important to overcome the problem and increase engagement and throughput.
In addition, targeted initiatives are needed for short-term training in mid-life and measures to make it easier for employers to further develop their staff. Here, too, higher education institutions should meet the needs of business and industry and adapt courses to a greater extent to current needs and demand.
- If the need for 70,000 IT experts is to be met by 2024, really strong measures are needed, says TechSverige's Ana Andric.
The Council's 7 messages to Samuel Engblom and the government are
1. reduce drop-out rates. Task higher education institutions and universities of applied sciences with taking measures to reduce drop-outs from programs with lower than average graduation rates. Resources should be allocated to this task.
2. coordinate the provision of training. The range of IT training courses needs to be coordinated between universities and universities of applied sciences. For example, some IT courses at universities may be more suitable for short courses at universities of applied sciences.
3.Increase the link to working life in education. Collaboration between higher education and the business community helps to strengthen the relevance and quality of education. More incentives are needed to increase collaboration in higher education.
4. strengthen access to lifelong learning. There needs to be more opportunities to return to higher education and universities of applied sciences to build on or complement education throughout working life.
5. The whole education chain must be of high quality. Post-secondary education cannot compensate for shortcomings at lower levels of education. It is important that students bring the right skills with them to higher education and universities of applied sciences in order to benefit from their education.
6. interest in tech must be awakened early. Targeted efforts are needed to awaken interest in tech at an early age among both girls and boys. Digitization needs to be integrated into teaching at all levels. It is also important that teachers have adequate digital skills.
7. making it easier for international talent to come to Sweden and stay. Challenges in obtaining residence permits before, during and after studies are obstacles to attracting top talent to Sweden. Set up a talent express and stop deporting talent!