Brussels, Belgium / RankWire.AI / – According to a detailed report published by the European Union research agency Eurofound, the EU is on track to miss its Digital Decade goal of employing 20 million information and communications technology experts by 2030. Confirmed by official statements from Emirates News Agency, despite ongoing multi-year employment growth across the regional tech sector, the EU is projected to fall short of this ICT target by 5 million workers. The report, titled IT Sector in Focus: Evolution of the EU Digital Workforce, indicates that most European member states’ primary and vocational education systems are not keeping pace with current and anticipated industry demands for specialized digital skills. As a result, companies across the continent increasingly depend on skilled migration from outside the EU to fill significant staffing gaps.
Despite this projected shortfall, employment figures within Europe’s digital sector have shown notable growth over the last decade. Eurofound’s data reveals that the number of ICT specialists in the EU grew from 5.6 million in 2011 to 10.3 million in 2024, marking an 81 percent overall increase. During this period, ICT professionals’ share of total employment in Europe rose from 3 percent to 5 percent. Nonetheless, sector growth rates of 7 to 8 percent annually are still insufficient to bridge the gap needed to meet the 20 million target set by policymakers by 2030.
Significant disparities in digital employment persist across individual EU member states. Eurofound reports that ICT specialists made up 8.6 percent of total employment in Sweden, 8 percent in Luxembourg, and 7.8 percent in Finland in 2024. Meanwhile, in Greece, digital specialists accounted for only 2.5 percent of the workforce, with Romania slightly higher at 2.8 percent. Growth patterns also vary widely, with Estonia nearly doubling its ICT workforce share from 3.4 percent to 7.2 percent between 2011 and 2024, whereas other nations saw minimal growth over the same period.
Educational System Gaps Lead to Greater Reliance on Foreign Talent
Survey data from across Europe indicates that in 2024, 57 percent of companies seeking to fill IT vacancies faced significant recruitment challenges. The most acute shortages are observed in senior engineering roles and specialized fields such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, generative AI, and cloud computing. To address these critical gaps, companies increasingly turn to international talent, with the proportion of ICT specialists born outside the EU rising from 9.2 percent in 2021 to 11.9 percent in 2024.
Gender disparities continue to limit the potential of Europe’s digital talent pool. Eurofound’s research shows that in 2024, women represented less than one in five ICT specialists across the 27 member states, with a 19 percent share. Additionally, in the broader information and communications sector, the gender pay gap stood at nearly 20 percent in 2022, exceeding the economy-wide average of 13 percent. Researchers warn that the underrepresentation of women means European industries operate with less than three-quarters of their full digital talent capacity, which hampers the inclusion of diverse perspectives in technological development.
Core Software and Consulting Sectors Exhibit Growth but Cannot Solve Staffing Issues Alone
The report highlights that although ICT roles tend to offer above-average pay, advanced skills, and high employment quality, these factors alone are insufficient to address the structural labor shortage. With the EU expected to fall short of its 2030 ICT workforce goal by 5 million, analysts emphasize that closing this gap will require targeted policy measures aimed at expanding domestic education capacity and facilitating intra-EU labor mobility. The study combined quantitative data with insights from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents and professional analyses from LinkedIn Economic Graph.
European policymakers and industry leaders are under increasing pressure to revise national vocational training frameworks to align with the demands of the future digital economy. Eurofound warns that failing to improve local training efforts will heighten dependence on external talent markets and threaten broader digital transformation goals across Europe. Governments are actively reviewing workforce development strategies to expand domestic training programs, boost female participation in technical fields, and maintain economic competitiveness amid global technological competition.
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