The UK IT industry faces a significant skills shortage unless it begins to attract more young professionals and retain its older workers, according to a new report.
The sector has failed to attract the under-25s and has a low number of plus-45s, leading to the recruitment and working IT culture to soon become unsustainable.
This emerges from 'Workforce ageing in the new Economy', a study from Cambridge University which identifies ageism and gender as key obstacles for IT recruiters and employers alike.
It says that some 55 per cent of IT workers are under-35, compared to 48 per cent in the Netherlands and 41 per cent in Germany.
But in the UK, the number of under-25s signing up for IT has nearly halved since 1995 - whereas in Germany it has trebled.
This shortage typically included school leavers or graduates, and shows a decline of 11.7 per cent in 1995 to 6.7 per cent last year.
At the other end of the emerging skills gap is the slow growth from the lack of 'older' workers - the over 45s - who have climbed 7.7 per cent since 1995, to a rate of one in five.
With professionals aged 50 plus, the industry fails its most experienced help by not taking advantage of a skilled workforce, as just 20 per cent of the UK are over-45.
"If IT is not able to address workforce ageing issues, it risks losing a lot of talent that has invested years in the industry," said Dr. Kerry Platman, senior researcher at Cambridge.
"The risk is that companies will experience skill shortages. Nobody wins if you side step the issue."
According to the report the 'risk' is now set to grow, as women employees have also dropped from 100,900 in 1999 to just 53,700 last year.
"Women in IT tend to be younger than men, and there are more pronounced retention issues for women than men," said Platman.
She argues a lack of flexibility makes age and gender issues facing the industry even more of a problem, explaining the 25 per cent of the total workforce rated as 'part-time'.
The report says one solution lies in a greater availability of home, part time and flexible working that would attract more women and senior professionals.
"People in their 20s and 30s have to consider their prospects of the future," says Platman.
"People in their 50s want to start "downshifting." If the industry is so heavily full-time oriented, that makes it hard for them to get back in."
The research will be published next week and is part of a three-stage investigation that will be complete in 2006.
