IT Workforce

Introduction

Recognizing that the development of knowledge-based economies dependence on an adequate supply of people with relevant skills, the Irish Government has invested heavily in all levels of its domestic education system.  The following data tables summarize Ireland’s workforce relative to its demographics, education, labor costs, productivity, supply, skills gap, and emigration/immigration.

Demographics

According to the latest estimates from Ireland's Central Statistics Office, Ireland's population is 3.917 million, with 39% of the population under the age of 25 years.

Population by Age Group 2001 (000's) (estimates)

Future Availability of workforce Percentage population under 25 in the year 2010

Education

Ireland has one of the best education systems in the world according to the 2001 independent IMD World Competitiveness Report. Almost 1 million people are in full time education. 60% of school leavers go on to third level education. The majority of these undertake courses in business, engineering and computer science.[1]

Public Expenditure on Education as % of total Public Expenditure by level of education

Labor Costs

Ireland has a competitive wage environment where a series of wage agreements between employers and employees ensure that wage inflation is low. Statutory add-on costs are one of the lowest in Europe. A recent study of salary costs in Finance & Administration shows Ireland to have the lowest costs in all job categories of the 5 European locations surveyed.

Total Hourly Compensation costs in (€)

for production workers in Manufacturing

Productivity

Employment legislation in Ireland governs a few crucial and basic areas. Maximum hours of work for industrial workers are set at 48 hours per week plus 12 hours overtime but, in practice, the average is 39 hours per week.

Statutory leave has been increased gradually over the last number of years in Ireland and now the statutory minimum is 4 weeks per annum.

Statistics

Technology Colleges (2000):  16 w/46,424 students enrolled

Literacy rate (2001):   98% (definition: age 15 and over that can read and write)

% of Bachelor’s Degree Recipients per 100 (1999):  31.9%

% of Bachelor’s Degree Awarded in Mathematics and Computer Science per 100 (1999):  7.1%

% of Graduate Degree Awarded in Mathematics and Computer Science per 100 (1999):  16%

Earned Math and Computer Science Doctoral Degrees (1999):  15 (M&CS)/449 (total)= 3%

Workforce Supply

The average annual supply of IT professionals and technicians to the labor market for 2001-2005 is forecast to be 4,350 and 1,600 respectively.  This supply forecast is based on demographic constraints such as the falling age cohort of 17-18 year olds, which will reduce the pool from which most entrants into third-level education are drawn.  This pool is expected to decrease by approximately 15% from 1998-2005.  Despite the fact that many forecasts have supply of computer science professionals and engineering professional to increase by approximately 150 per year, this is not expected to be sufficient to meet respective industry demand.[2]

Skills Gap

From 2001-2005 the Irish Government estimates that there will be an annual average shortfall of about 2,500 professionals and about 800 technicians, with overall total shortfall of approximately 3,300 IT graduates.  This is largely attributed to recent strong growth in demand within the ICT sector in Ireland.  While there has been volatility in both demand and supply of technicians in the ICT industry since the late 1990s, there has been steady growth in the demand for and supply of IT professionals.

Emigration (brain drain) and Immigration of Computer Professionals

Current capacity in the Irish third-level education sector can provide 5,360 graduates annually. This projection includes the Government’s plan to increase the numbers of engineering technicians (750 additional entrants annually) and computer professionals (1,000 additional entrants annually).  The supply estimates take account of people becoming available through job losses and takes into account graduates who emigrate or go on to further study. No account is taken of graduates who find jobs outside their area of qualification, for example, in teaching or management.

The annual average supply of technologists is projected to be 6,100 from 1996 to 2003.

Annual Supply of Technologists 1996-2003

Over the past several years, there has been a substantial number of both returning emigrants, including graduates, and immigrants coming to work in Ireland’s technology industries. Ireland’s ESRI estimates that on average 300 graduates return each year. Over the medium term this estimate could prove optimistic. In projecting the current domestic supply at 5,400 graduates, it has been assumed that a greater percentage of graduates will remain in Ireland. The implication is that the level of graduate emigration will fall and therefore there will be fewer people available to return.[3]