According to Eurostat Digital Economy & Society in the EU 2018 edition, in 2016, a large majority of ICT specialists who were employed in the EU were men (83 %), their share rising from 78 % in 2010. This gender distribution of ICT specialists was in contrast to the distribution for total employment, where the genders were broadly balanced (54 % men and 46 % women). Female ICT specialists were under-represented in all EU Member States and the largest gender gaps were found in Slovakia (91 % were men) and the Czech Republic (89 %). The highest shares of female ICT specialists were recorded in Bulgaria (30 %) and Romania (26 %).

In the EU, almost half of the businesses (48 %) which recruited or tried to recruit ICT specialists had difficulties to fill their vacancies. Among the EU Member States, this situation was most widespread among businesses in Malta (70 %), the Czech Republic and Austria (both 67 %) and Luxembourg (65 %).

Looking at the turnover generated by e-sales, this amounted to 18 % of total turnover in the EU; a small increase compared with 14 % in 2010. Among the EU Member States, e-sales turnover was highest for businesses in Ireland (33 % of total turnover), followed by Belgium and the Czech Republic (both 31 %).

The share of turnover from e-sales for large EU businesses (26 %) was more than twice as high as for SMEs (10 %). Large businesses in the Czech Republic (43 %)and Ireland (42 %) generated the highest e-sales shares among all Member States. The same two Member States also reported the highest share of e-sales turnover for SMEs (Ireland 23 % and the Czech Republic 16 %).

Among the EU Member States, Ireland reported the highest shares of businesses with web sales (26 %) as well as with sales via EDI-type messages (16 %). Ireland also recorded the highest share of turnover generated from web sales (16 %), while the Czech Republic registered the highest share of turnover from EDI type sales (22 %).

Czech Republic country profile under the Digital Single Market.