An Ever-Increasing Number of Jobs Require ICT Skills

The working day is increasingly characterised by tasks carried out using computers and the internet. 41 per cent of workers in the manufacturing industry and 57 per cent of workers in selected service industries conduct the overwhelming majority of their work using a computer. This represents an increase of five or nine per cent, respectively, within only two years.

The on-going computerisation of jobs is changing the nature of employees' activities and it generally requires further training and higher levels of qualification. The internet is also playing an increasingly important role in businesses. Almost 43 per cent of employees now have internet access. That is a 15 per cent increase on levels recorded for 2000. These are the findings of a representative survey of around 4,500 businesses with five or more employees in the manufacturing industry and selected service industries. The survey was carried out at the end of 2002 by the Centre for European Economics Research (ZEW), in Mannheim, with the financial support of the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung.

The significance of information and communications technologies (ICT) varies greatly between sectors. Computers and the internet are used to the greatest extent in the daily businesses operations of banks and insurance agencies, as well as of computer and telecommunication service providers. More than 80 per cent of employees in these branches use a computer for the large majority of their daily tasks. In the manufacturing industry, ICT supports are used to a considerably lesser extent. Having said this, even in businesses manufacturing consumer goods, and in primary industries (with the exception of the chemicals industry), the two sectors showing the lowest levels of computerisation in Germany, computers are considered to be a crucial work tool for more than every third employee.

In addition, the survey indicates that businesses are implementing ICT to an ever-growing extent. The proportion of businesses with internet access, for example, has now risen to 93 per cent, an increase of 8 percentage points on 2000. Businesses primarily use the internet in order to manage their own market presence and to conduct trade. A good 75 per cent of businesses have their own webpage and around 39 per cent of firms use the internet as a sales channel. Online trade with other business ("B2B") is also gaining significance.

Investments are made in ICT with the primary aim of accelerating business processes. Almost 90 per cent of businesses in Germany admit that this is the central motivation for their ICT investments. In contrast, only 55 per cent of businesses aim to save on personnel costs by implementing ICT. The main obstacle to the increased use of ICT is staff members' lack of knowledge in this area. Almost a third of businesses consider this to be an impeding factor.

Contact

Dr. Thomas Hempell, E-mail: hempell@zew.de