Assessing the Impact of Digital Economy Programs on Alleviating Skill Shortages in the EU Labor Market for Digital Professionals

Abstract

The shortage of digital specialists is a pressing issue in the labor market of the European Union (EU). Despite large-scale measures to train specialists, there is a significant gap between the demand and supply of digital specialists. This shortage affects various industries, including IT, software development, cybersecurity, and data analytics, and hinders growth and innovation in the EU digital economy. This work aims to evaluate the effectiveness of existing EU initiatives related to the digital economy in training digital specialists and alleviating the shortage of these specialists in the European labor market. Priority in the study is given to such EU initiatives as the Digital Single Market (DSM) and Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition (DSJC). To achieve this goal, the work uses the “difference-in-differences” method to compare the growth rates of IT specialists in the EU and other European countries. The results show that the growth rate of the number of digital specialists in EU countries is much higher. The article also examines the relationship between the growth rate of the share of digital specialists among the working population and the indicator of the lack of IT skills in different countries. Regression analysis revealed a positive correlation between high growth rates and a higher level of skills shortage in different countries. In addition, using Pearson’s chi-squared methods and Welch’s t-test, the work shows that in the EU countries, there is a higher level of shortage of digital specialists in all studied IT skills compared to other developed countries in Europe and the world. In general, the results of this work indicate that although programs related to the digital economy have proved effective in attracting and training digital specialists in the EU, the shortage of qualified workers remains a critical challenge. Therefore, further efforts are needed to address this challenge and ensure the growth and innovation of the digital economy in the EU.