Germany is well equipped for the digital age

The digitalisation of the world of work will demand enhanced IT qualifications from all workers. The latest analysis by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) “IT occupations and competences for Industry 4.0” shows that Germany is well positioned in terms of numbers of IT-based core occupations and will also be able to meet the rising demand for highly-skilled workforce as a result of switching production processes over to Industry 4.0. However, BIBB researchers point out that the occupational field of the IT-based core occupations - including data processing specialists, computer scientists and software developers - is not generating sufficient specialists on its own, but instead is benefiting from a strong influx of workers from related occupational fields. This occupational change also benefits from the fact that employees in the IT core occupations comment that they are, “in principle”, satisfied with their income, working conditions and work loads as well as opportunities for continuing education and training.

In the opinion of BIBB president Friedrich Hubert Esser the study shows that there will be a significant increase in IT competences as a partial competence in all occupations and sectors. “Factory work under Industry 4.0 is becoming more complex. Besides increased IT competences, it also requires more social and personal competences. The BIBB is currently evaluating the dual IT occupations of information technology specialist, IT system electronics technician, IT system support specialist, IT officer and is reviewing where adaptations are necessary.”

Professor Esser also commented on how the study showed that occupations and activities would undergo change in the manufacturing sector in particular. “With its proven quality, the BIBB will therefore contribute to ensuring that the new requirements accompanying Industry 4.0 are identified quickly and reliably in order to develop the occupations in a thorough and evidenced-based manner.” BIBB expertise is also influencing working group discussion at the National IT summit which is taking place today and tomorrow in Berlin.

According to a current BIBB analysis, around 1 in every 10 employees performed at professional IT activity in 2012. This includes approximately 575,000 employees (2.7 %) in the IT core occupations and around two million employees (7.2 %) in the so-called “IT mixed occupations”. These include, for example, technicians, engineers and electrical occupations, but also service occupations such as auditing, business consultancy and commercial office occupations or administrative occupations.

In purely arithmetical terms, the supply of skilled workers in these occupational fields will be sufficient to satisfy the increasing demand up to 2030. This is according to projections from the BIBB and the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) as well as a recently published joint scenario relating to Industry 4.0. As justification for this, BIBB researchers indicate that the supply of academically qualified skilled workers will increase strongly as a result of the increasing tendency among the young generation to study. In this respect, the additional demand from business for highly qualified individuals in this sector, which is also rising sharply, can be met without this impacting negatively on employees with a vocational or advanced vocational education and training qualification.

The level of qualifications in the IT occupations is already very high. Academic qualifications dominate in the IT core occupations (56.5 %), with 34.5 % of individuals having completed vocational education and training. In the IT mixed occupations, individuals with vocational education and training are more strongly represented than academics (38.3 %). 9 % of the employees in the IT mixed occupations have an advanced vocational education and training qualification.

Based on the worker's surveys on the nature of computer use from the BIBB/Federal Institute for Oc-cupational Safety and Health, the BIBB analysis also shows the high level of IT penetration in Germany. According to this, more than eight out of ten workers were already working with computers in 2012. In contrast, there has been a continual fall in the proportion of employees who do not use a computer from 48.3 % in 1999, to 23.3 % in 2006 and to 19.1 % in 2012. Whereas in 2006, 44 % of working time was spent on the computer, this percentage had already risen to 48 % by 2012. Academics spend 56 % of the working time at the computer which is significantly longer than employees with vocational education and training (45 %).

Further information is available on the BIBB website at http://www.bibb.de/veroeffentlichungen/de/publication/show/id/7833

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