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Australia – Huge ICT skills shortage in the next five years

23 July 2014

A new survey by IT recruitment firm Greythorn suggests that the Australian information technology sector is heading towards a huge skills shortage within the next five years, reports zdnet.com.

The survey of nearly 3,000 IT professionals, which was carried out during May 2014, found that the proportion of respondents aged under 30 working in IT is only 6%. In contrast, the same survey carried out in 2011 showed that those aged under 30 comprised 18% of the whole workforce.

The survey also indicates that Australia is at risk of losing the IT professional workforce it currently has overseas, with around 66% of IT professionals under 30 stating that they would consider an international move if a suitable opportunity arose.

According to Greythorn, the combined impact of fewer graduates entering the IT industry and more graduates considering leaving will further compound the skills shortage highlighted in the research.

Richard Fischer, Managing Director of Greythorn's Asia Pacific region, fears that the country could face a substantial shortage of IT professionals by 2020 unless a concerted effort is made to promote the industry: "IT must be promoted more at grass-roots level to ensure there is a talent pool available in coming years. With an ageing population and fewer young candidates entering the IT industry, Australia could face a crippling skills shortage by 2020."

"It's reassuring to see the government acting to try to address the impending IT shortages through its graduate programs. It will be interesting to see what impacts these have in the coming years," he added.

The survey also found that almost 30% of under-30s in the IT industry said they had never had formal training in their role, and 66% had undertaken self-funded study in order to develop their skills. According to Greythorn, IT sector employers could attract young talent if they offered training as part of their benefits packages.