Service Providers of the Information Society - Job Vacancies in many Firms Because Applicants Lack Qualification

Within the sector service providers of the information society comprising both ICT service providers and knowledge-intensive service providers, about 24 per cent of the firms state not being able to fill job vacancies at the moment. ICT service providers, comprising enterprises of the branches software and IT-services, ICT-specialised trade as well as telecommunication services, are affected more than knowledge-intensive service providers which include enterprises of the branches tax consultancy and accounting, management consultancy, architecture, technical consultancy and planning, research and development as well as advertising.

Currently about 38 per cent of the ICT service providers cannot fill job vacancies, while this is only true for about 21 per cent of the knowledge-intensive service providers. ICT specialised trade is particularly affected, in this sector about 47 per cent of the firms cannot fill job vacancies at the moment. Compared to this, vacant jobs which cannot be filled are only a minor problem for management consultancy, tax consultancy and accounting. Only 17 per cent and 18 per cent respectively of those firms state not being able to fill job vacancies. This is the result of a survey among service providers of the information society conducted by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, in cooperation with the credit reference agency Creditreform, Neuss, in September 2008 (details regarding the survey are provided below).

"For 93 per cent of the firms the main reason for not filling job vacancies is the applicants’ lack of qualification", says Jenny Meyer, researcher at the Centre for European Economic Studies. "Other reasons are the shortage of applicants in general and the salary expectations." Above all there is a demand for engineers as well as skilled applicants from the technical sector and IT specialists. About 65 per cent of the firms currently not being able to fill job vacancies provide jobs for engineers and other technical professions. Within the sector service providers of the information society about 54 per cent of the firms have vacant jobs for IT specialists. This is particularly true for ICT service providers while knowledge-intensive service providers increasingly lack professionals in the sales sector in addition to engineers and other technical jobs.

The business survey by ZEW/Creditreform

About 1000 firms participate in this quarterly survey. The economic sector service providers of the information society comprises the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) service providers (firms in the branches of software and IT services, ICT-specialised trade as well as telecommunication services) and knowledge intensive service providers (firms in the branches of tax consultancy and accounting, management consultancy, architecture, technical consultancy and planning, research and development as well as advertising). An overview of the ZEW/Creditreform business survey is provided on the ZEW project site. For further information in German language only, please consult our homepage.

Remark on projection

To generate a representative analysis, the ZEW is projecting the answers of the firms participating in the survey to the total number of firms within the regarded sector.

For further information please contact

Dr. Jenny Meyer, E-mail: meyer@zew.de