In the years ahead, if Danish companies are to create growth and cope with the ever-increasing international competition, it is crucial that all parts of the business sector take full advantage of the opportunities offered by digitalisation. This assumes that companies have access to labour with strong digital skills, and it is therefore essential to build up knowledge about the companies’ need for ICT skills.
This report identifies companies’ regional demand for ICT competencies. The report was prepared for the Danish Growth Council.
The underlying data in this report is based on a newly developed method that enables the analyses of companies’ demand for labour on the basis of job postings. The method and data are based on HBS-Jobindex, which is a database containing all job postings in Denmark from 2006 and onwards. The job postings are analysed, and competencies are identified by means of text analysis. For this project, all job vacancies from the period 2007-2015 are also linked to data from the Danish Business Authority's CVR register, from which information about the place of employment that demands the labour (e.g. geographical location, industry and number of employees) has been extracted.
Digital skills are defined as any broad skills within information and communication technology (ICT). Thus, there is a wide range of skills at different levels of competence, which can be used in a myriad of job functions. The survey distinguishes between ICT specialist competences and advanced ICT user competencies.
Main results
Demand for ICT specialists and advanced ICT users has increased since 2007, mostly in Greater Copenhagen, Eastern Jutland and Funen, where the demand for both ICT specialists and advanced ICT users today is more than 30% larger than it was in 2007. Across regions and industries, the demand for ICT competences has grown more than the general labour market. Across the country, there is a tendency for larger companies to be more ICT-intensive than small ones.
Southern Jutland, Western Jutland, Northern Jutland and Zealand differ from the rest of the country in that a relatively large part of the demand for both ICT specialists (about 20-40%) and advanced ICT users (about 30-40%) comes from companies in the industrial sector. This must be seen in the context of the fact that these regions contain quite a bit of industry. The regional business structure has an impact on the composition of the regions’ demand for ICT skills. In the Greater Copenhagen, Eastern Jutland and Funen area a relatively large part of the demand (49, 56 and 56% respectively) is for ICT specialists within Design. This is a higher proportion than in the rest of the country, where, on the other hand, skills within operations and support are increasingly in demand.
The conclusion is that the Greater Copenhagen, East Jutland and Funen area have a particularly high demand for ICT specialists, which can partly be explained by the fact that the information and communication industry is particularly concentrated in these regions while industry is less prevalent in the regions.
Links
Højbjerre Brauer Schultz (2016): "Regional efterspørgsel efter digitale kompetencer".
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