Dall'
Irish Independent
Record 14,000 technology vacancies can not be filled
A KEY driver of the Celtic Tiger economy is in crisis, because it can't fill record numbers of job vacancies.
The Information Technology (IT) sector - which the Government sees as vital to future economic growth - has an unprecedented 14,000 unfilled jobs.
The number of vacancies has shot up 26pc in just seven months and by a worrying 74pc since May 2005, according to the latest in a series of surveys. This has serious implications for the entire economy, as rising wages could undermine competitiveness and frighten off new investors.
All the predictions are that the gap between supply and demand is widening, as young Irish people shun careers in the sector. Seven of the world's 10 software giants have plants here. Increasingly, they are relying on non-nationals to fill highly skilled jobs.
The surveys, carried out by Dublin City University (DCU), are backed by the latest National Skills Bulletin, which confirms that employers are increasingly relying on non-EU nationals to fill IT jobs. DCU professor of computing, Michael Ryan, said the news about software giant Motorola could not have come at a worse time, just as students were rushing to fill in CAO forms. The Cork-based firm has refused to confirm fears of a total shutdown of its Mahon plant.
He suggested young people should look at the wider picture. "They seem to be stuck in (memories of) the dot.com fiasco, now ancient history in this business."
The dot.com collapse resulted in a halving of the numbers enrolling on honours computing degrees - down from 1,809 in 2000 to 995 last year. Numbers entering engineering degrees dropped from 1,664 to 1,206 in the same period.
Yet, despite occasional problems like that at Motorola, vacancies in the IT sector have been rising ever since. The first DCU survey in May 2005 revealed 8,000 IT vacancies, and this has increased rapidly to 13,900 at present.
The DCU figures are based on 16,300 internet advertisements for IT jobs in Ireland, adjusted for multiple advertisements for some jobs and multiple jobs in some advertisements. The jobs cover a wide spectrum of roles. Prof Ryan said: "It is paradoxical that having put such effort into creating high level attractive jobs, now that we have succeeded, we cannot find Irish people to fill them."
Government agencies are stepping up their campaign to attract more students into science, engineering and technology courses.
Finance Minister Brian Cowen said yesterday the Motorola job losses were a tragedy for the workers, but an inevitable part of the firm's international restructuring. He did not believe it was because the country was no longer competitive.
John Walshe
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