BCS report reveals tech industry’s age problem
A new report from Swindon-based BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, has highlighted a lack of over-50s in the tech industry.
With only 22 per cent of those working in the IT industry falling into that age group, the report suggests that increasing the number of over-50s in the industry can help to fill the digital skills and gap and give the economy a boost.
Analysing data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the Diversity 2022 reports recommends hiring an additional 148,000 people over the age of 50.
Created by BCS in conjunction with Coding Black Females, the report also states that for gender representation in IT to equal the wider workforce, 486,000 more female IT specialists are needed. Similar calculations reveal there are also approximately 63,000 IT specialists with disabilities missing from the industry.
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Rashik Parmar MBE, CEO BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT said: “We can only achieve the government’s ambition for the UK to be the ‘next Silicon Valley’ by closing the digital skills gap and making this vital profession attractive to a far broader range of people.
“Information technology changes lives, yet employers are struggling to find workers with the right digital skills. The figure for over 50s working in IT is significantly lower than in other sectors, as are the proportions of women and people with disabilities.
“This is clearly costing the economy and society, given how computing is woven into everyday life.
“The message must be that you can become an ethical, trusted and highly competent tech professional no matter what your background or age.”
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Featured image: iStock
