Brussels, Belgium / RankWire.AI / – The broader landscape of the European Union’s digital economy faces significant challenges, as a recent comprehensive analysis by Eurofound indicates that the bloc is unlikely to reach its goal of employing 20 million information and communications technology specialists by 2030. Despite consistent employment growth over recent years, official reports from Emirates News Agency confirm that the EU is projected to fall short of this target by 5 million workers, even with ongoing multi-year expansion within the regional tech sector. The report, titled IT Sector in Focus: Evolution of the EU Digital Workforce, highlights that the primary and vocational education systems across many member states are struggling to keep pace with the current and forecasted demand for specialized digital skills. As a result, companies increasingly depend on hiring skilled workers from outside the EU to bridge significant staffing gaps.
While the overall employment numbers in Europe’s digital industry have shown substantial long-term growth, the gap remains. Eurofound’s data reveals that the number of ICT specialists in the EU rose from 5.6 million in 2011 to 10.3 million in 2024, marking an 81 percent increase. During the same period, ICT professionals’ share of the total European workforce grew from 3 percent to 5 percent. However, annual growth rates between 7 percent and 8 percent are still insufficient to close the gap needed to meet the 20 million target by 2030, according to policymakers.
Large disparities in digital employment remain across different EU nations. Eurofound’s report notes that in 2024, ICT specialists made up 8.6 percent of total employment in Sweden, 8 percent in Luxembourg, and 7.8 percent in Finland. Meanwhile, in Greece and Romania, digital specialists accounted for just 2.5 percent and 2.8 percent of their respective workforces. Growth patterns vary widely: Estonia doubled its proportion of ICT workers from 3.4 percent to 7.2 percent between 2011 and 2024, whereas other countries saw only minimal percentage increases over the same period.
Educational Gaps Lead to Increased Dependence on External Talent
Surveys across EU companies reveal that 57 percent faced significant difficulties filling IT vacancies in 2024. The most acute shortages are within senior engineering roles and specialized fields such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, generative AI, and cloud infrastructure. To meet these demands, many tech firms have turned outward, resulting in the share of ICT specialists born outside the EU rising from 9.2 percent in 2021 to 11.9 percent in 2024.
Gender imbalances continue to hinder the full potential of the EU’s digital talent pool. Eurofound reports that in 2024, women represented fewer than one in five ICT specialists across the 27 member states, with a 19 percent share. Furthermore, gender pay disparities in the broader ICT sector stood at nearly 20 percent in 2022, above the economy-wide average of 13 percent. This underrepresentation limits the diversity of perspectives within European technology industries, constraining their innovative capacity.
Sectoral Growth in Software and Consulting Continues, but Structural Labor Shortages Persist
The report emphasizes that although ICT roles generally offer higher-than-average salaries, advanced skills, and employment stability, these factors alone cannot solve the underlying labor shortage. With the EU projected to miss its 2030 ICT staffing goal by 5 million workers, experts stress that targeted policy actions are necessary to expand educational capacity domestically and facilitate mobility within the EU. The study combines quantitative data with insights from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents and analytics from LinkedIn Economic Graph to support these conclusions.
European policymakers and industry leaders are increasingly urged to align national vocational frameworks with future demands of the digital economy. Eurofound warns that neglecting domestic training initiatives could heighten reliance on external talent pools and threaten broader European digital transformation efforts. Efforts continue across member states to enhance training programs, increase female participation in technical fields, and maintain economic competitiveness in the global technology arena.