"The Number of ICT Employees in Germany Rose Considerably"

According to data released today by Eurostat, the European Statistical Office, the number of information and communication technologies (ICT) specialists in the EU rose by almost 1.5 million people in the period between 2011 and 2015. Germany, in particular, saw a significant increase. This development was also confirmed in the recently published Monitoring Report DIGITAL Economy 2016, in which Irene Bertschek, head of ZEW's Research Department "Information and Communication Technologies", was actively involved. With regard to the development of ICT specialists in Germany she finds that,

"Between 2012 and 2015, the number of ICT employees in Germany rose considerably. Thereby, the largest increases were reported for the fields of software development and coding, as well as for IT system analysis, user support and IT sales. What is also striking is the fact that ICT services employ a far greater proportion of ICT specialists than ICT hardware producers.

Outside the ICT sector, the largest proportion of ICT professionals was recorded for knowledge intensive service providers, followed by other sectors in the manufacturing industry and trade. In virtually all sectors, the proportion of ICT specialists increased by three to twelve per cent between 2012 and 2015."

For more information please contact:

Prof. Dr. Irene Bertschek, Phone +49 (0)621/1235-178, E-mail bertschek@zew.de