Employer demand for technology workers across 10 European countries experienced a significant increase in the first quarter of 2021 with employers posting nearly 900 000 advertisements for open positions, according to a new report released today by CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the information technology (IT) industry and workforce.
CompTIA’s “European Tech Hiring Trends” reveals that employer job postings for technology positions totaled 877 106 in Q1 2021, an increase of 9% over Q4 2020 and 40% higher than Q3 2020. The report provides an in-depth look at tech hiring trends in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain.
“This is an encouraging indicator that business is getting back on track, but it also reinforces what we have known for some time – that there is a wide chasm between the job opportunities available in the technology field and the number of individuals with the right skills to fill them,” said Graham Hunter, CompTIA’s vice president for business development in EMEA, APAC and Canada.
“We need to encourage more people from varied backgrounds and work experiences, and from all age ranges and education levels to join the tech workforce,” Hunter added. “CompTIA has the training and skills-building resources that will ready them for employment.”
Employer hiring efforts spanned the continuum of job levels, from entry level (39% of job postings), to mid and advanced (25%), with the remaining unspecified.
Openings for technology positions represented approximately 13% of total hiring advertisements in Q1 2021. Poland recorded the highest proportion of job advertisements for technology roles at 36%. Germany, Portugal and Romania also had above average concentrations of tech hiring job advertisements.
Germany (421 109), France (121 863) and Poland (105 921) had the highest numbers of job postings for technology positions in Q1, while Italy (+ 50%), Netherlands (+ 43%) and Poland (+ 37%) recorded the highest percentage increases in tech job postings compared to Q4 2020.
As expected, the highest levels of activity occur in the largest metro areas, such as Berlin (30 960), Madrid (14 002), Paris (11 240), Warsaw (12 952) and Amsterdam (8 337). But the demand for tech talent extends well beyond major metro centers. The Q1 data shows hiring in cities such as Gent (3 150), Porto (4 695), Bologna (1 642), Brno (1 138), and Brașov (1 116).
With the ongoing trend of digital transformation across the European economy, the demand for tech workers now spans just about every industry sector. In the aggregate, the top hiring sectors are: 1). Information and Communication, 2). Manufacturing, 3). Administrative and Support Services, 4). Professional, Scientific and Technical Services and 5). Financial and Insurance.
Technical, business skills on equal footing
Job postings for software developers, systems analysts and cybersecurity professionals accounted for the majority of job postings in Q1. But a deeper analysis shows that employers tend to seek well-rounded candidates with skills that extend into multiple aspects of technology, including infrastructure, data and business applications.
Business skills have risen to the same level of importance as technical capabilities for many employers, a reminder that a combination of technologies and personnel with varied skills is required for organisations to meet their innovation goals. Team work, problem solving, creative thinking, adaptability, project management and customer service are among the soft skills frequently cited in job postings for technology positions.
CompTIA’s “European Tech Hiring Trends” report was developed from an analysis of employer job posting data aggregated by Burning Glass Technologies Labour Insights. Complete methodology is included in the report, available at https://www.comptia.org/content/research/european-tech-hiring-trends.
