BRUSSELS, (Pakistan Point News - 28th Jul, 2026) Europe is set to fall five million jobs short of its 2030 Digital Decade target of having 20 million information and communications technology (ICT) specialists employed in the European Union by 2030, according to EU research agency Eurofound.
A new Eurofound report, "IT sector in focus: Evolution of the EU’s digital workforce", found that education and vocational education and training systems in most EU member states are failing to meet current and projected demand for ICT skills. As a result, labour migration from non-EU countries has become a Primary, and increasingly important driver for recruitment in the sector.
The report said the number of ICT specialists in the EU rose from 5.6 million in 2011 to 10.3 million in 2024, an increase of 81 percent. Their share of total EU employment also increased from 3 percent to 5 percent over the same period.
Women made up fewer than one in five (19 percent) ICT specialists in the EU27 in 2024, while the gender pay gaps in the broader information and communication sector were just below 20 percent in 2022, compared with 13 percent for the workforce in general.
The report said addressing labour shortages requires policy measures focused on expanding the domestic supply of digital talent and facilitating labour mobility, rather than improving job quality, as ICT jobs already offer above-average pay and working conditions.
"Closing the gender employment gap in IT is not only a matter of equity but also a matter of economic necessity. In a context of labour shortages, failing to attract women means that the EU is operating with less than three quarters of its potential talent pool of ICT specialists. It is also limiting the diversity of perspectives in shaping technologies that increasingly influence all aspects of society, in and outside work," the report said.
