Scotland has a total IT workforce of 79,404, including:

• 37,115 employees in the IT industry (580,000 in the UK)
• 42,289 IT professionals working in other sectors (590,000 in the UK)

Scotland’s share of UK IT employment is expected to decline over the next ten years to 2014, but actual numbers will increase. 

There are 6,700 IT and Telecoms workplaces in Scotland.  These workplaces are characterised by:

• fewer female employees (38% compared to 51% in other sectors)
• fewer part-time jobs (14% compared to 32% in other sectors)
• a greater proportion of small workplaces with 1-10 employees (93% compared to 79% in other sectors)

The average age of people in employment in IT and Telecoms sector is 36 years, younger than the average for Scotland as a whole which is 40 years.

The most common IT professional job role in the region is ‘Software Professional’ as it is in UK.  Scotland has a very low proportion of employers reporting skills gaps in their IT professional workforce (3%), compared to 9% in Great Britain.  As is the UK, skills gaps are reported in the development and implementation of IT systems and services.  Only 13% of companies in Scotland reported IT vacancies compared to 17% in Great Britain.

Skills shortages are reported for softer skills, such as customer handling skills, oral communication skills, team working skills, planning and organising, plus advanced software skills.

Future skills in systems architecture will be in demand.  IT professionals working with a combination of business and IT understanding will benefit the most from future developments in the sector.  There will be an ongoing demand for technical skills in systems integration, networking, web design, security and IT architecture.

Scotland has a good standard of further education IT qualification completions.  HND and HNCs are the most popular vocational qualifications.  Scotland has 6 higher education institutions offering QAA (Quality Assurance Agency) accredited courses in Computing or Computer Science.  Scotland attracted 6.6% of graduates who entered the UK IT workforce within six months of graduation.

Source: e-skills UK Scotland skills analysis report 2005a and e-skills UK/Futureskills Scotland 2005

For the age profile of the sector in Scotland see: