European IT Employment Forecast, 2021-2026

Despite economic slowdown in Europe in 2022, European technology employment continued to grow 2.7% in 2021 with continued demand for DX skills, underlining the deeper dependency on technology in all aspects of business, which accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. ICT employment in 2022 grew more than twice as we expected in our March 2022 forecast, following in the footsteps of the start of the Russia-Ukraine War. Growth in ICT employment is expected to reach 4.5% in 2023 and have a CAGR of 4.8% between 2021 and 2026. Advanced digital transformation skills continue to be in high demand, leading to growth in employment for data, machine learning (ML), and applications-related job roles, but there is also demand for legacy technology skills, especially in the applications and support-related job roles as organizations are continuing the transformation of their core IT infrastructures and application estates. Growth in security-related job roles also continues to be strong. The past year has seen an increase in cyberattacks and threats that underlined the necessity for organizations to ensure they have an appropriate and responsive security stance.Although most European countries have been increasing their retirement ages over the past few years, the demographics are of an aging population, which will inevitably lead to higher attrition due to retirement. The current skills gap in technology roles and aging IT professionals mean that supply from university programs will not be enough to support the current pace of technology development in Europe. Therefore, reskilling outside of academia has become a major source of IT professionals in the European market and a key factor for organizations to keep their skills pools up to date.This five-year forecast was based on the assumptions represented in the Worldwide Black Book: Live Edition (February 2023). These forecasts include the include the impact from the Russia-Ukraine War on all forecast assumptions for all markets, according to the most recent macroeconomic inputs. You can also contact IDC analysts directly for a more detailed explanation of how forecast assumptions have been accounted for at any point in time.This IDC Market Forecast describes the size and growth of IT professionals' employment by role and region in Europe in 2021-2026. It includes our forecast across 41 different job roles and analyzes key factors influencing IT professional employment. "Despite layoffs in the tech industry at the end of 2022 and 2023, the search for IT talent continues to be fueled in Europe as the speed of digitalization outpaces the supply of professionals in the market. The solution for this issue is not simple - companies must embrace lifelong learning of employees, work on retention of talent, and work alongside governments and education systems to ensure upcoming waves of IT professionals have the relevant skills to work in the industry," said Leo Freitas, research manager and head of IDC's European Skills Research.