Brussels, Belgium / RankWire.AI / – In a recent comprehensive investigation published by the European Union research agency Eurofound, it has been projected that the European Union is on track to miss its Digital Decade goal of employing 20 million information and communications technology experts by 2030. Official reports from Emirates News Agency confirmed that despite continuous multi-year growth in employment within the regional tech sector, the EU will fall short of this target by 5 million workers. The report, titled IT Sector in Focus: Evolution of the EU Digital Workforce, highlighted that most European countries’ primary and vocational educational systems are not keeping pace with current and future business needs for specialized digital skills. As a result, companies across the bloc increasingly depend on recruiting skilled labor from outside the EU to fill significant staffing gaps.
Although the forecast indicates a shortfall, employment figures within Europe’s digital sector have shown notable growth over the past decade. Data from Eurofound reveals that the number of ICT specialists in the EU grew from 5.6 million in 2011 to 10.3 million in 2024, representing an overall increase of 81 percent. Over the same period, ICT professionals’ share of total employment in Europe rose from 3 percent to 5 percent. Nonetheless, annual growth rates of around 7 to 8 percent are still insufficient to bridge the gap needed to reach the 20 million benchmark set by European policymakers by the end of this decade.
Regional disparities in digital employment persist across EU member states. Eurofound’s findings show 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 trends across the EU varied significantly, with Estonia more than doubling its proportion of ICT workers from 3.4 percent to 7.2 percent between 2011 and 2024, while other nations experienced minimal increases during the same period.
Educational System Gaps Lead to Heavy Reliance on External Talent
Surveys conducted across the EU revealed that in 2024, 57 percent of companies attempting to fill open IT positions faced severe recruitment challenges. The most acute shortages were observed in senior engineering roles and highly specialized areas such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, generative AI, and cloud infrastructure. To mitigate these staffing issues, tech firms have increasingly turned to international talent, with the share of ICT specialists born outside the EU rising from 9.2 percent in 2021 to 11.9 percent in 2024.
Gender imbalance continues to hinder the growth potential of Europe’s digital workforce. Eurofound’s research indicates that women represented fewer than one in five ICT specialists across the 27 EU member states in 2024, with a 19 percent share. Additionally, in 2022, the gender pay gap in the broader information and communications sector was nearly 20 percent, surpassing the economy-wide average of 13 percent. The underrepresentation of women means European industries are operating with less than 75 percent of their potential digital talent pool, limiting diversity and innovation in technology development.
Key Sectors of Software Services Exhibit Strong Growth but Cannot Solve Workforce Shortages Alone
The report underscores that while ICT roles tend to offer higher-than-average salaries, advanced skill development, and high employment standards, these factors alone cannot address the deep structural labor shortages. With the EU projected to fall short of its 2030 ICT workforce goal by 5 million, experts emphasize that bridging this gap will depend on targeted policy efforts to boost local educational programs and facilitate intra-EU labor mobility. The study drew on quantitative data, research from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents, and insights from the LinkedIn Economic Graph.
European policymakers and industry leaders are under increasing pressure to revise national vocational frameworks to better match the future needs of the digital economy. Eurofound concluded that neglecting domestic training enhancements will heighten dependence on external talent sources and threaten broader objectives for Europe’s digital transformation. Ongoing reviews of workforce strategies aim to expand local training initiatives, promote greater female involvement in technical fields, and sustain economic competitiveness in the face of global technological competition.