Unless organizations make an effort to hire IT staff from a broader age group, they could be facing dire skills shortage in the coming years, new research warns.
A study from Cambridge University shows that the effects of an ageing population could have a serious impact on IT skills available to business. It shows that more then half of all IT employees are under 35 and more than 80 per cent are under 45. Most IT workers are also men.
If this trend continues businesses will struggle to find enough IT recruits because there are fewer young people and the average age of the population is rising, according to Kerry Platman, senior research associate at the faculty of social science political sciences.
Platman, who heads the Workforce Ageing in The New Economy research programme, said the IT industry is going to have to make better use of its existing workforce as they get older.
It will also have to recruit more widely among women and older workers, or face skill shortages which could see IT jobs and activities outsourced to other countries.
"Central to such vision is a highly trained, entrepreneurial and indigenous workforce capable of exploiting the business opportunities of the 'new' information economy," Platman said.
"This requires strategic investment now to counter the worryingly low levels of women in the industry, the impact of the recent downturn in the sector and the need for lifelong learning for the whole workforce, irrespective of age," he added.
