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The influx of female ICT professionals is increasing year by year, but the number of female ICT professionals still lags behind men. The latest figures from pr-eDICT show that the industry is changing. Currently, 81.5% of ICT professionals are male. Given the significant shortages in the ICT sector, it is a shame that half of the Dutch population is overlooking this profession. Fortunately, it seems that change has been occurring in recent years. In 2020, the growth in the number of female ICT professionals was 6.5%, while the growth in the number of male ICT professionals was 1.7%.
“It is good news that the influx of female ICT professionals is increasing,” says Lotte de Bruijn, ambassador of the Human Capital Agenda ICT. “But in order to close the gap, the growth must accelerate even further in the coming years. This will lead to a more representative and inclusive sector, and is also important in resolving the urgent shortage of ICT talent.”
Labor market opening up: differences between sectors and professions disappearing
Digitization is putting pressure on all sectors. The demand for ICT specialists is growing, with the need for ICT skills increasing in almost all roles. In total, 542,000 people work as ICT professionals, which is 6% of the 9 million employees in the Netherlands. More than 70% of all ICT professionals work outside the traditional IT sector(s). As a result, the differences in job characteristics and requirements between professions are decreasing. This makes the labour market more dynamic, making it easier to transition to other professions in different sectors. Digitization presents opportunities, and women now seem to be seizing these opportunities, benefiting the diversity within the ICT job market.
Reskilling
Through the Human Capital Agenda ICT (HCA ICT), in partnership with CA-ICT (the ICT labor market training fund), efforts are being made to develop a scaling plan around regional initiatives for reskilling and upskilling towards ICT professionals. Some of these initiatives also specifically aim to make the ICT sector more inclusive. With this plan, we aim to train and reskill an additional 36,000 people and engage a total of 12,000 companies through an investment of €80 million over four years.
pr-eDICT: current information about the labor market
The core objective of CA-ICT is to support regional initiatives with comprehensive labor market information through pr-eDICT. pr-eDICT is the expertise center for digitalization and ICT of CAICT, the ICT labor market training fund. pr-eDICT unlocks information on the ICT labor market in a broad sense. It collects and analyzes information from CBS, DUO, Jobdigger, and LinkedIn, covering data on educational inflow and outflow, transition from education to the labor market, the ICT labor market, and vacancies.
The figures from pr-EDICT are based on definitions and professions that align with the digitalizing economy. Figures from UWV are based on the occupation classification system used by CBS (BRC) for ICT professions. This results in a higher number of ICT professionals in pr-eDICT compared to the number of ICT professionals according to UWV.
Want to access the data yourself? Visit www.pr-edict.nl.
Interested in learning more about pr-eDICT? Ask Jasper Veldman.