The highest percentage of enterprises which had difficulties in recruiting ICT specialists was recorded in the Czech Republic and Luxembourg (both with 59%), followed by Austria (56%), the Netherlands (53%), Malta (52%), Estonia, Ireland and Slovenia (all 51%), recently published Eurostat data say.
In the European Union (EU), nearly 8 million persons were employed in 2014 as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) specialists, representing 3.7% of total employment. Over recent years, both the number and the share of ICT specialists in total employment have continuously increased. In 2014, an overwhelming majority (81.9%) of ICT specialists employed in the EU were men, more than half (56.5%) of them had a tertiary education level and more then 37.1% were aged less than 35.
In the Czech Republic, the share of ICT specialists on total employment grew from 3.9% in 2011 to 4.1% in 2014. According to the 2014 data, 80.4% of ICT specialists are men, 45.2% have tertiary education and 36.1% are aged less than 35.