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IT Workforce
Availability of a competent, well-trained workforce is an important factor in a country’s ability to attract foreign investment. It employed 700,000 people as of 2001. Approximately half of these were in the services sub-sector. There are over 500 foreign ICT companies who have invested in Italy, employing 135,000 people. Siemens, IBM and Vodafone, all in the ICT sector, are 3 of Italy’s 4 largest foreign multinationals. Annual labor costs for a software development engineer in Milano or Catania are considerably lower than other major European cities.
Only 5.5% of Italian students graduate with degrees in science or engineering, which is among the lowest in the EU. However, these figures are improving, with a growth rate consistently in the double digits. There is a national program to provide training in ICT areas to 60,000 long-term unemployed young people in the areas of Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sardegna, and Sicilia.
