Growing spending on IT will drive up the number of jobs for
IT professionals by 5.8 million across leading global economies
over the next four years.
That represents a growth of 3.0% a year - more than three times
faster than the growth of total employment,
research by Microsoft and IDC claims.
The study, which analyses the IT market in 52 countries,
representing 98% of the worlds IT spending, predicts that between
the end of 2009 and 2013, the number of IT jobs world wide will
grow from 35.6 million to 41.4 million.
"Continued innovation and investment in information technology
will help jump-start recovery from the current recession and will
significantly contribute to the growth of employment and new
businesses," said Robert D.
Atkinson, president the US based Information Technology and
Innovation Foundation, commenting on the study.
Growth in the IT supply industry will account for the creation
of nearly 2,500 new businesses and 78,200 supply-focused jobs over
the next three years.
Most of the new companies will be small and locally owned
organisations, and the jobs will be highly skilled, high-quality
jobs, the study predicts.
IT spending will grow at 3.3% a year between now and the end of
2013, which is more than three times the expected rate of growth of
GDP in the 52 countries.
Spending on software, which will account for 21% of total IT
spending in 2009, is growing faster than spending on IT overall -
4.8% a year between 2008-2013, compared to 3.3% for all IT
spending.
Software-related employment grew 4%, during 2009, compared to an
overall drop in IT employment in the 52 countries analysed.
Other main findings
• IT spending in 2009 for the 52 countries covered will be
$1.414 trillion, in 1999 and will grow to $1.7 trillion in
2013.
• IT employees and companies will pay nearly $1.2 trillion in
taxes in 2009 and generate news net tax revenues of $370bn between
2010 and 2013.
• IT spending currently provides revenues for more than 1.2
million companies selling or distributing hardware, software, and
services.
• They employ more than 13 million people directly and more than
22 million IT professionals work in IT-using organisations.