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ICT Trends – Global & NZ Demand

Global Demand for ICT Skills

Back in July 2012 Steven Joyce, Minister of Economic Development, was quoted in the NZ Herald as saying that "There is a worldwide shortage of (people with) ICT skills currently and it's not getting any better and New Zealand is part of that……..”

Has the situation of global ICT skills shortages improved any since then?

Earlier this year, according to the Irish FIT ICT Skills Audit, the European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, called on Europe's digital businesses, governments, training and education sectors to join a Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs to address up to 900,000 ICT job vacancies expected to exist in Europe by 2015.

And in May this year the IICD, (Tackling the Critical Gaps in ICT Skills and e-Literacy) highlighted the growing need, exponentially worldwide, for professional staff with essential ICT skills. The need to address the gap between the supply and demand of e-literate workers was also identified as becoming increasingly critical and urgent.

It would appear that the gap between the supply and demand for people with ICT skills hasn’t improved and, in fact, appears to be deteriorating globally.

Identified Skills Shortages

Here in New Zealand Immigration NZ provides The Essential Skills in Demand (ESID) Lists to help ensure that New Zealand’s skills needs are met by facilitating the entry of appropriately skilled migrants to fill identified skill shortages. The focus of the lists is to identify skilled occupations where there is a genuine shortage of New Zealand workers.

Long-term Skill Shortage List (LTSST)

The Long-term Skill Shortage List, effective on and from 11 February 2013, identifies occupations where there is a sustained and ongoing shortage of highly skilled workers both globally and throughout New Zealand. Table 1 below is a snapshot of a selection of the ICT jobs listed on the LTSST. Table 1 LTSSL for ICT Jobs

Occupational Group Occupation -

Occupations are

listed by ANZSCO

(Australian and New

Zealand Standard

Classification of

Occupations) code.

Long Term Skill

Shortage List

Requirements -

Qualifications must

be comparable to the

standard of the New

Zealand qualification

listed. Also see Note 1

at the end of this list.

In order to claim

bonus points for

qualifications in

an area of

absolute skill

shortage under

the Skilled

Migrant Category,

applicants must

meet the

following

specifications.

ICT, Electronics and Telecommunications ICT Project Manager

(135112), systems

Analyst (261112),

Multimedia Analyst

(261211), Web

Developer (261212),

Bachelor degree

(Level 7) specialising

in Information

Technology

(Computer Science,

Information Systems

Bachelor degree

(Level 7)

specialising in

Information

Technology

(Computer

2

Developer

Programmer

(261312), Software

Engineer (261313),

Software and

Applications

Programmers

(261399), Database

Administrator

(262111), ICT

or other Information

Technology) OR

Bachelor degree

(Level 7) specialising

in Electrical and

Electronic Engineering

and Technology AND a

minimum of three

years' relevant post-

qualification work

experience.

Science,

Information

Systems or other

Information

Technology) OR

Bachelor degree

(Level 7)

specialising in

Electrical and

Electronic

Engineering and

Technology AND a

minimum of three

years' relevant

post-qualification

work experience.

So just what is the current demand for ICT qualified and/or experienced personnel?

ICT Job Market

The Seek ICT job market (fig.1) indicates a continuing healthy demand for suitably qualified personnel, although the number September job adverts are 3.6 per cent below the September 2010 figures and 6 per cent below this time last year. pic.twitter.com/H0vlEnJoBZ. Overall, Seek ICT job adverts for all NZ to September have increased by 56 per cent since the beginning of this year.

Fig.1 Seek ICT Job Adverts Monthly Trends 2010 –2013 (September)

Trademe IT (fig.2) job adverts are up by 30 per cent on January’s figure, but somewhat lower than last year’s September figure with 14.6 per cent fewer adverts. Trademe IT job adverts are also down for the August – September month by 5.6 per cent. pic.twitter.com/zIo7Ojt6MZ

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Fig.2 Seek ICT & Trademe IT Job Advert Trends to September 2013

Seek ICT job adverts for September (fig.3) have decreased overall by 5.3 per cent for Auckland (-2.4

per cent for August), 11.8 per cent for Canterbury (-12.3 per cent for August) and 6.7 per cent for all

New Zealand (-2.7 per cent for August). Waikato is up 35 per cent for the month.

pic.twitter.com/jVODOxdk3H

Fig.3 Seek ICT Job Advert Trends Monthly Change for September 2013

Figure 4 provides a detailed record of the Seek ICT job advert trends by region to

September 2013. Seek ICT job adverts for Auckland have increased by 55 per cent on

the January figure while Wellington is up 25.5 per cent and Canterbury 28 per cent for

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the same period. All NZ has increased by 45 per cent for the period January to

September, 2013.

pic.twitter.com/yTVWL4N6Pz

Fig.4 Seek ICT Job Advert Monthly Trends to September 2013

NZ ICT Jobs in Demand

Figure 5 illustrates a strong demand on the Seek ICT web site for Developers/Programmers (LTSSL

Code 261312) at almost 2.5 times the number of the second highest category of Programme &

Project Management. pic.twitter.com/50MjoS3Ki7

Fig.5 Seek ICT Job Ads by Sub-category – September 2013

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Languages in Demand

Figure 6 illustrates a consistent demand across the regions for people with programming skills and/or experience in the four languages featured in the chart. A typical maximum salary indicated for an experienced senior .NET developer is $120k.

The TIOBE rankings feature the C programming language at number one in the top twenty rankings, closely followed by Java, with PHP and C# ranking fifth and sixth respectively.

Fig.6 Seek ICT Job Ads by Programming Language – September 2013

News Bytes: A to Z

Ireland – Fastrack to IT (FIT) ICT Skills Audit (May 2013)

A clear and apparent skills shortage is emerging and is seen through the high number of unfilled IT vacancies in Ireland.

Isle of Mann - 60 new jobs in the next 12 months (Sept. 2013)

A survey conducted by the Department of Economic Development and the Manx ICT Association (MICTA) has indicated that the excellent growth potential for local businesses is being hampered by a local shortage of ICT skills.

NZ – ICT Report (July 2013)

Report showcases New Zealand’s performance in the ICT sector, which contributes 5 per cent of the country’s GDP, and makes a number of findings about the New Zealand ICT sector.

NZ – Aoraki Polytechnic (Sept 2013)

Aoraki Polytechnic, which is facing its third year of student losses, could fall 400 students short of its target of 1773 for the current year, with a potential deficit of $2 million.

QS World University Rankings 2013 and World rankings by region – Oceania

Auckland University ranked 94 overall. (Also refer NZ Herald Sept. 10, 2013)

Scotland - ICT shortages could stifle Scottish jobs growth (Sept 2013)

Survey suggests that software, web, telecoms and IT businesses contribute more than £4bn to the Scottish economy and support more than 100,000 jobs in over 1,000 innovative companies.

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UK – Closing the Security Skills Gap (Sept 2013)

As pupils go on to study GCSEs and A-levels, it is important that they develop an understanding of why security is important in the design, development and implementation of technology.

UK - Education key to getting younger generation into ICT jobs (Sept 2013)

New measures in ICT education across Europe………….in the hope that better education will enable young people to fill more jobs in the industry.

USA – GigaOM (Sept. 2013)

In the latest critique of massive open online courses (MOOCs), the professor of an online course held up as an example by the media and MOOC providers has decided to shutter his class.