EU firms struggle to hire techies

EU companies face obstacles in hiring information and communication technology (ICT) experts, but Cypriot firms were better off in job recruitment.

According to data released by Eurostat, Cyprus is one of the countries where relatively fewer companies face the same hiring issues (54.5% compared to 62.8% EU average).

Responding to a survey conducted last year, 9.5 % of enterprises in the EU reported that in 2021 they recruited or were trying to recruit ICT specialists and that 62.8 % had trouble filling those vacancies.

Difficulties encountered by enterprises when trying to recruit ICT specialists were a lack of applications, a lack of relevant qualifications and experience and high salary expectations.

The proportion of enterprises that recruited or tried to recruit but faced difficulties was substantially higher among large enterprises (72.2%).

Still, the level was high among medium-sized enterprises (63.7 %) and small enterprises (59.9%).

Among EU members, in Slovenia (78.0%), Czechia (77.0%) and Germany (76.6%), over three-quarters of the enterprises that recruited or tried to recruit ICT specialists had difficulties in filling ICT vacancies.

Luxembourg (70.9%) and the Netherlands (70.4%) followed closely, with a significant proportion of businesses facing the same difficulties.

The lowest shares were registered in Spain (32.8%), Bulgaria (46.0%), Poland (46.5%), Slovakia (51.4%), and Cyprus (54.5%).