IT specialists and occupations in this sector are expected to be in high demand in the upcoming years, as they already are, representatives from Eurostat, the EU Office for Statistics, said in the latest webinar for job skills.
In a series of questions asked by participants, representatives, such as statistical officers for methodology and analysis, ICT statistics, as well as those that handle labour market and lifelong learning, pointed out that IT specialists are expected to be in demand in the 2030ies and 2040ies.
According to Denis Leythienne, the Deputy Head of the Unit of Labour Market and Lifelong Learning at Eurostat, the statistics provider will handle the IT sector separately and will also provide data on countries where such skills are in hot demand.
When asked about occupancies in hot demand for the following years, Didier Dupre, Head Unit of Labour Market at Eurostat, pointed out that the institution does not do forecasts but noted that IT specialists are already thinking about skills and institutions needed in the European Union, which can be the case for the joint job research commission.
I want to highlight in particular the role of CEDEFOP, which is the European Center for Development of Vocational Training. They are working a lot on skills and the labour market and are looking at the 21st-century workforce. So, more generally, not only now but in the future, indeed, there will be the characteristics of the workforce in ten years, in 15 years, and this is a good point to start thinking about what will be the skits in December time, in ten or 15 years.
One of the questions that was asked in the webinar was the role of AI and which occupations can be more endangered by the phenomenon.
Sabrina Iannazzone, Statistical Officer, ICT statistics, implied that there are four main factors in certain occupations that can be impacted by AI: the level of repetitiveness, standardisation, use of digital devices and time spent on hard physical work.
Julie Fionda, Deputy Head of the Unit for Skills Agenda, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL), pointed out that it depends on the region what occupations are most needed – for example, pharmacists might be in hot demand in north Belgium while southern Germany needs mechanical engineers.
Regardless, the wanted skills in 2019 and 2023 can be the three most important ones – IT, food and accommodation to some degree and temporary work agencies.
