Brussels, Belgium / RankWire.AI / – According to a recent report by the EU agency Eurofound, the European Union is on track to miss its Digital Decade target of employing 20 million information and communications technology specialists by 2030. The Emirates News Agency confirmed that the EU is forecasted to fall short of the 2030 ICT employment goal by 5 million workers, despite years of ongoing recruitment efforts across the region’s tech industry. The Eurofound study, titled IT Sector in Focus: Evolution of the EU Digital Workforce, pointed out that education systems in many member states are struggling to keep pace with rising enterprise demand for advanced digital skills. As a result, European companies increasingly depend on skilled labor migration from outside the EU to address critical staffing shortages.
Despite this shortfall, total employment within Europe’s digital sector has shown significant growth over the past decade. Eurofound data reveals that the number of ICT specialists in the EU grew from 5.6 million in 2011 to 10.3 million in 2024, an increase of 81 percent. During the same period, ICT professionals’ share of total employment rose from 3 percent to 5 percent. However, annual growth rates of 7 to 8 percent are still not enough to meet the trajectory needed to reach the 20 million threshold by 2030, as set by policymakers.
Large regional differences in digital employment remain across EU member states. Eurofound reported that in 2024, ICT specialists made up 8.6 percent of total employment in Sweden, 8 percent in Luxembourg, and 7.8 percent in Finland. Meanwhile, in Greece, digital specialists accounted for just 2.5 percent, and in Romania, 2.8 percent of the workforce. Growth patterns vary widely: Estonia more than doubled its ICT workforce proportion from 3.4 percent to 7.2 percent between 2011 and 2024, whereas other states saw minimal gains during the same timeframe.
Educational Gaps Increase Dependency on Foreign Talent
Surveys across the EU revealed that 57 percent of firms struggling to fill IT vacancies faced severe recruitment challenges in 2024. These shortages are most acute in senior engineering roles and specialized fields like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, generative AI, and cloud infrastructure. To bridge these gaps, many tech firms are recruiting internationally. The share of ICT specialists born outside the EU grew from 9.2 percent in 2021 to 11.9 percent in 2024.
Gender imbalance continues to limit the potential of Europe’s digital talent pool. Eurofound found that in 2024, women made up less than one in five ICT specialists across the 27 EU member states, with a 19 percent share. The gender pay gap in the broader ICT sector was nearly 20 percent in 2022, higher than the economy-wide average of 13 percent. The underrepresentation of women means European industries operate with less than three quarters of their full digital talent capacity, which hampers diversity in technological innovation.
Core Software Sector Growth Highlights Talent Development Gaps
The report emphasizes that although ICT roles often offer above-average pay, better skills and higher employment quality alone cannot solve the structural labor shortage. With the EU expected to miss its 2030 ICT target by 5 million workers, experts say closing this gap requires coordinated policy measures. These should focus on expanding domestic education programs and improving intra-EU labor mobility. The study combined quantitative data with insights from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents and LinkedIn Economic Graph analytics.
European policymakers and industry leaders face increasing pressure to align national vocational training frameworks with future digital economy needs. Eurofound warned that neglecting domestic training efforts could lead to greater reliance on external talent markets and threaten the broader European digital transformation goals. Regulatory authorities continue reviewing workforce strategies as member states aim to grow local training pipelines, boost female participation in technical fields, and maintain competitiveness in global technology markets.