IT Labor Market for United Kingdom

The UK defines Literacy and Education as those people above 15 who have completed at least five years of schooling.  England has a 99% literacy rate and, of course, are all English speakers.  Other languages include: Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland).

An initiative of the UK government is to have more computer training and internet connected computers in their public primary and secondary schools.  Also there is an effort to retrain adults in computer related fields. The SPITTS (St. Petroc I.T. Training Scheme) project opened in October 1999 to provide open access IT training opportunities for homeless men and women. The project offers training in several recognised IT qualifications and works with clients to enhance employment prospects. Some excellent results have already been realised with a number of clients achieving qualifications and employment.

In a 1200 page study on the higher education system in the UK, the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education stated: “We believe that the innovative exploitation of Communications and Information Technology (C&IT) holds out much promise for improving the quality, flexibility and effectiveness of higher education. The potential benefits will extend to, and affect the practice of, learning and teaching and research. C&IT is also, we argue, needed to support high quality, efficient management in higher education institutions. There is scope to reduce costs in the future and the potential is great, but implementation requires investment in terms of time, thought and resources in the short term.” [1]

There are approximately 232,000 higher-level education graduates each year from British universities.  This accounts for approximately 23% of the population. Of these graduates 37% go to permanent jobs in the UK, and 1.6% go on to jobs overseas.

 Supply and Demand for IT professionals in the UK

 Like many advanced countries, the UK suffers from a shortage of IT professionals.  To combat this dilemma, the UK is changing their strident immigration laws to make room for qualified software and other IT professionals.  Many are coming from India and Asia.  The government has also initiated more retraining of unemployed workers as part of the UK government initiative to make the government move to E-government and E-business.  Although there has been some success in making new areas of wealth and eliminating unemployment, there are still many sections of the UK being left behind.  Another initiative by the government is causing controversy.  Many have problems with the loser immigration laws pending in Parliament.

 Although there are not as many Computer Science/Engineering/MIS university programs as there are in the US, many colleges are adding these programs to their universities. Although Britain still has one of the toughest immigration laws in Europe, the loosening of these laws is beginning to ease the shortage of IT professionals.  EU is changing these laws since EU is striving for free flow of labor through the borders of the EU.  In some cases they are not enforcing these immigration laws.  There is a “black” or “Gray” market of High Tech employees working in Britain with the proper papers who are ignored.  They are drawn to the UK by high salaries and wages for high tech.  This is leading to off-shore operation i.e. India, east Asia, and eastern Europe.  One company is using internet technology to create a virtual office so many foreign workers do not have to apply for visas.
 This situation has lead to government having sites and other informational devices for promoting E-business.  Through this E-government they are promoting E-business. An example of this is Scotland, which is creating E-businesses that just deal with their local government.  More E-business and software firms are starting up in Ireland and Britain.  Some are coming from the United States. Many US companies are trying to take advantage of the cheap Euro to drive down labor costs.  Another draw is the potential of WAP being introduced in the UK.

 A potential competitor for IT workers is Ireland, which has a growing software market of its own.  They are not only wooing away potential IT workers, but they are also a potential recruiter of IT university students.

 The UK has a very specific advantage over many other European, Asian, African, and Latin American countries: because English is the “language of the internet,” there are no language barriers.  The UK’s culture is also similar to the US’s, establishing an easier time integrating into the Internet and E-business opportunities.  This means that the demand for skilled employees is high.  This is also a problem for the Labour party, which is in power right now, because their traditional base is the working class, who want more training and less immigration to fill these lucrative positions.
 
 
 

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