Information and Communication Technologies: Demand for University Graduates

In the past few years Germany has managed to reduced its deficit in comparison to the USA and other northern European countries, in terms of its implementation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Between 20 and 25 per cent of annual economic growth in Germany can now be attributed to the implementation of ICT. A significant number of OECD countries in all sectors, however, continue to invest significantly more than Germany in research and development (R&D). A factor which seems to inhibit Germany's catching-up process in this context, is the shortage of ICT professionals.

This is the conclusion drawn in the report, "Germany's Technological Capacities", which was produced under the direction of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF).

In 2000, investments in ICT in Germany reached a new record. Levels of investment were particularly high in the mobile communications sector. Indeed, the number of participants in this sector has now doubled. In Germany, however, expenditure for ICT as a proportion of the gross domestic product is less than 6 per cent, whilst for countries such as America and Sweden, this figure is more than 8 per cent. Financial and technical service providers, together with information and communication service providers, strongly invested in ICT in the 1990s.

According to the report, "Germany's Technological Capacities", however, a quarter of companies in 2000 were unable to fully realise their plans for implementation of ICT. A significant obstacle was the shortage of suitable, qualified ICT professionals. Most affected by this shortage of ICT professionals, were banks and insurance providers. If they were available for employment, these companies would employ more than 13 per cent more ICT professionals. In the wholesale trade as well, technical service providers and other business-related service providers are disproportionately negatively impacted by the shortage of specialist personnel.

Businesses would like to find university graduates to fulfil 80 per cent of these unfilled ICT-posts. IT graduates therefore have particularly good employment prospects following graduation. The number of students enrolling in IT degree programmes has increased in the past few years. This increase has not, however, been great enough to cover the demand for qualified individuals. Instead, businesses are opting to employ graduates form other fields such as engineering. This, however, means that there is a relative shortage of these graduates in other sectors.

Contact

Dr. Georg Licht, Telefon: 0621/1235-177, E-Mail: licht@zew.de

Jürgen Egeln, Telefon: 0621/1235-176, E-Mail: egeln@zew.de

Report,"Germany's Technological Capacities"