ICT worker shortage of national concern
According to a study released by International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) last week, the world is generating an estimated 15 petabytes of new data every day — roughly eight times the data stored in all academic libraries in the U.S. Not surprisingly, companies across all industries are beginning to invest more in data analytics with 26% of businesses globally projecting an investment increase of 10% or more in the science.
Of the four key growth areas of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) (analytics, mobile technology, cloud computing and social business), analytics has seen the highest level of adoption.
The problem is there aren’t enough data analytics experts to go around in Canada. The IBM study showed only one in 10 organizations globally has the data analytics skills it needs while 75% of students and educators report a moderate to major gap in their ability to meet the demands of the market. (On a percentage basis, Canada’s numbers are comparable with the global numbers.)
“Things are moving extremely quickly in analytics, social business, smarter commerce and security,” says Les Rechan, general manager of business analytics at IBM. “What we’ve found here ... is that technology becomes the No. 1 challenge for CEOs.”
Though the skills shortage is most pervasive in new technologies, the problem is much more deeply rooted. A research study released last year by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) projected an across-the-board increase in demand of 106,000 IT workers in Canada (or about 19%) between 2011 and 2016 with few new market entrants available to fill them.
While that shortage is obvious cause for consternation among ICT employers, it also has profound implications for all industries that use information technology — that is, every single industry in Canada.
Earlier this year, Deloitte released its report card on Canada’s productivity in which it broke down which Canadian industries were more productive than others. Part of that measurement was based on the level of ICT investment in each industry — the lower the investment, the lower the productivity. In other words, the number of ICT workers available to industries outside the ICT sector has a profound impact on the nation’s overall productivity rankings, which have been noticeably poor for many years.
The ICT sector itself is equally important to Canada’s overall prosperity. It represents 5% of GDP and nearly 10% of GDP growth between 2000 and 2009 and makes up one-third of Canada’s investments in research and development.
As information technology spreads its tentacles into all sectors, workers of all stripes will need to have at least some foundation in ICT and learn how to use it advantageously to benefit their respective professions. Yet, few professionals outside the world of ICT ever venture into the realm of computing.
While it may seem intuitive that the rapid growth of both consumer and business technology would make ICT one of the most desirable fields for new job-market entrants, Industry Canada data show the number of ICT workers as a percentage of the total workforce has declined from 3.6% in 2002 to 3.3% in 2011.
Predictably, the drop in ICT workers has corresponded with a surge in their remuneration. While the average income across all Canadian industries stood at $45,488 in 2011, ICT salaries ranged from $48,889 to $72,653 depending on the specific nature of the job.
“All employers are being very cautious about giving [pay] raises and holding onto their cash, but that’s not the case for ICT professionals,” says Sharif Faisal, chief economist for the ICTC. “They’re constantly getting raises. They’re 3% higher [today] than what they were getting in January.”
If ICT is well paid, in demand among employers, and offers a plethora of avenues to pursue, why isn’t the next generation of students fighting to get into ICT programs? Answering that question isn’t easy. According to IBM, the two biggest barriers to the pursuit of new technology skills are cost and the time it takes away from work. That might make sense for those who are already working in the industry and must now find ways to upgrade their skills, but what about new market entrants?
“People know what a doctor does. What does a person in data analytics actually do?” asks Dr. Hanan Lutfiyya, chair of the University of Western Ontario’s (UWO) computer science department. “That’s something we’re trying to get better at informing students about. People sometimes miss the point that if you’re better at computer science, it might enable you to be better at the discipline you’re already in.”
UWO is one of 200 universities globally that have partnered with IBM to develop data analytics skills. In addition to providing a pre-packaged curriculum that allows educators to teach computer science students about real-world uses for analytics, mobile computing and smarter commerce (a fancy term for the mathematical analysis of consumer behaviour), the partnership allows educators to reach beyond IT enthusiasts.
“One of the things about the technologies we’re talking about is that they apply to multiple industries and different shapes and sizes, and our idea is that [students] can end up working in financial institutions, government institutions, manufacturing, distribution, mill work.... Some will end up in solutions and consulting roles,” says Mr. Rechan of IBM.
Yet grooming Canadian students for roles in new technology won’t solve the skills gap on its own. Experts agree immigration will inevitably play a key role. But will employers make effective use of talent from abroad? A study by Nordicity released in the spring showed that when asked about how likely they were to hire foreign professionals, 58% of employers said it was unlikely they would do so. That reluctance could have a long-term negative impact on Canada’s ability to compete for human capital in the future.
Karl Aboud, director of Canadian reward practice at Hay Group, which provides remuneration consulting services to both public- and private-sector organizations, says Canada’s ability to integrate skilled immigrants with the right jobs is less than satisfactory.
“These foreign immigrants are going to acquire those skills without knowing Canada’s lousy on-boarding policies with respect to foreign workers. They’re going to get those skills and they’re going to come to the land of opportunity and find out that we’re just plain crappy at aligning immigrants with skills needs,” he says.
As word gets out that immigrants with ICT skills are being under-utilized, many may choose to explore opportunities in other nations. “Canada is not the dream destination anymore. It’s competing with other immigrant nations that have opened their doors — like the U.K., Australia, America,” says Mr. Faisal, noting that policies toward integrating newcomers must be improved.
Such improvements are less a matter of easing headaches among employers who have high demand for ICT skills, and more a matter of ensuring Canadian industries have the brainpower to stay competitive — and productive — as global commerce becomes more engulfed by computerization.