Europe is on track to fall five million ICT specialists short of its 2030 Digital Decade goal. The target called for 20 million people working in the information and communications technology sector across the European Union. This is according to a new report from EU research agency Eurofound.

The report, titled “IT sector in focus: Evolution of the EU’s digital workforce,” points to a deeper problem. Education and vocational training systems in most EU member states are not keeping pace with current and future demand for digital skills. As a result, labour migration from non-EU countries has become an increasingly important source of recruitment for the sector.

However, the numbers show real growth over the past decade. The count of ICT specialists in the EU rose from 5.6 million in 2011 to 10.3 million in 2024. That marks an increase of 81 percent. Meanwhile, their share of total EU employment climbed from 3 percent to 5 percent over the same period.

Despite this growth, gender imbalance remains a persistent challenge. Women made up fewer than one in five ICT specialists in the EU27 in 2024, at just 19 percent. Furthermore, the gender pay gap in the broader information and communication sector stood at just below 20 percent in 2022. That compares with a gap of 13 percent for the workforce overall.

According to the report, closing labour shortages will require policy measures that expand the domestic supply of digital talent and ease labour mobility. Notably, improving job quality is not the priority, since ICT jobs already offer above-average pay and working conditions.

“Closing the gender employment gap in IT is not only a matter of equity but also a matter of economic necessity,” the report said. It added that failing to attract women means the EU is operating with less than three quarters of its potential talent pool. This, in turn, limits the diversity of perspectives shaping technologies that increasingly influence all aspects of society, both in and outside work.

Ultimately, the shortage of ICT specialists underscores a widening gap between Europe’s digital ambitions and its workforce reality.

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