The West Midlands has an IT workforce of 87,777, including:

• 46,836 employees in the IT industry
• 40,941 IT professionals working in other sectors

The regional share of UK IT employment is predicted to decline between 2004 and 2014. 

6% of IT professionals in the region are less than 100% proficient, compared to 9% in Great Britain as a whole.  14% of companies in the region reported skills gaps. A very high proportion of companies in the region reported IT vacancies (43%) 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 popular role is ‘Computer Engineer’.  The occupational profile of the sector is similar to the other English regions.  The West Midlands is one of only five regions in England that has significant employment in Data Processing companies.

There is a growing IT cluster around Coventry, Solihull and Warwick.  High tech corridors exist between: Birmingham and Worcestershire which is the central technology belt; Wolverhampton and Telford; and Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire. 

The region has a good number of further education IT professional qualification completions.  There are 15 Higher Education Institutions offering QAA (Quality Assurance Agency) accredited courses in Computing or Computer Science.  It is the fifth most popular destination of graduates entering the IT workforce, attracting 8% of graduates who entered the UK IT workforce within six months of graduation

Source: e-skills UK West Midlands regional report 2005a