An Irish jobs initiative was held up as an example for other countries at a European summit this week to address the growing IT labour shortage in Europe.
More than 150 representatives of the European Commission heard Mr Donnacadh Hurley, of Ballymun Job Centre, detail a training programme for the longterm unemployed it conducted last year in association with Microsoft.
The Ballymun Tramlines project was presented to the European Summit on Employment and Training in the Information Society as a case study of innovative employment and training initiatives involving the public and private sectors.
Mr Hurley outlined how the programme, which resulted in the employment of 25 long-term unemployed people as Microsoft Certified Professionals, helped unemployed people from disadvantaged areas "leap-frog" skills barriers to become highly qualified computer professionals.
"It has been extremely successful for us in Ballymun and is a model which has attracted interest both in Ireland and internationally. It is a simple model which could be tailored to suit other markets and we welcome the opportunity to tell of our success at this employment summit," Mr Hurley said. Reflecting the level of concern in industry circles, leading information and communication technology (ICT) companies hosted the event. These included Microsoft, Baan, Cap Gemini, ICL, SAP and Wang. The summit was opened by Mr Jacques Santer, President of the European Commission, and addressed by Dr Martin Bangemann, European Commissioner for Information Technologies, and Mr Padraig Flynn, European Commissioner for Employment.
Dr Bangemann said the EU was facing a critical mismatch between high levels of unemployment on the one hand, and a manifest inability to provide skills and qualifications needed in ever-increasing numbers by industry. He added: "This we must take seriously, as our competitiveness will rely on the availability of skilled personnel able to adapt to the rapid evolution of ICTs. It's up to industry to invest in training and skill."
To coincide with the event, IT market research company International Data Corporation (IDC) and Microsoft unveiled disturbing findings about the growing crisis in technology skills in Europe.
They estimated that by the end of 1998 there will be 510,000 unfilled jobs in the technology sector, a figure expected to grow to 1.6 million by 2002. Side effects of the problem will include exorbitantly high costs for IT skills, the delay of key projects, lower employee productivity and return from existing IT investment and an increase in the use of offshore resources.
The research predicts in-house IT departments in business should grow from 8.3 million personnel in 1997 to 12.2 million in 2002. However, if current levels of investment in training are maintained, the available pool of trained personnel will rise at just 6 per cent annually. The growing trend of valuable in-house IT skills being eclipsed by day to day fire-fighting activities emerged as one of the most worrying aspects of the report.
Ms Ann Riordan, country manager for Microsoft Ireland, expressed concern at the research findings. "The figures show starkly that unless business and government throughout Europe take this issue seriously our economy will not take full advantage of the benefits and potential offered by the information society. We must make progress quickly on creating a more comprehensive training infrastructure."
