The North East has a total IT workforce of 29,956 including:

• 13,505 employees in the IT industry
• 16,451 IT professionals working in other sectors

The region has the smallest regional workforce.  The regional share of UK IT employment is predicted to decrease in the future.

17% of companies in the North East reported that their IT professionals are less than 100% proficient, compared to only 9% in Great Britain as a whole. A high proportion of companies in the region reported IT vacancies (27%), compared to Britain (17%).

The most common IT professional job role in the region, similar to the others and the UK as a whole, is ‘Software Professional’.  The least common IT job within the region is ‘Computer Engineer’.  There are significant skills gaps in the development and implementation of IT systems and services.  A high proportion of companies in the region employing IT professionals reported skills gaps: 17% compared to 9% in the UK.

There are 10 Higher Education Institutions offering QAA (Quality Assurance Agency) accredited courses in Computing or Computer Science.  The region attracted 4.1% of those graduates who entered the UK IT workforce within six months of graduation.

Source: e-skills UK North East regional report 2005a