SAN JOSE, Calif. – The demand for networking professionals will continue to outstrip supply through 2011, says a new study released today by equipment manufacturer Cisco.
According to the IDC white paper sponsored by Cisco Learning Institute, "Networking Skills in North America: Trends, Gaps and Strategies," there is a 60,000-person shortfall between the supply of networking talent and the market demand for highly skilled information technology (IT) workers in the North American workforce today. As the demand grows for IT professionals, who now represent 14% of the workforce, this gap is expected to continue through 2011, says the press release.
IDC also found that shortages in specialty skills areas, such as network security, wireless and voice are “particularly troubling.”
More than 35% of the businesses surveyed identified an immediate need for voice specialists, while 19% indicated that they have a need for a wireless expert. IDC also estimates that 11% of security specialist positions will be unfilled in 2011 because of a lack of skilled professionals, representing a gap of nearly 35,000 positions.
"This white paper confirms what many managers in the workforce are already keenly aware of: There is an acute and growing need for more IT professionals," said Cushing Anderson, IDC analyst. "With more and more businesses moving critical operational functions over to the network, the IT department is assuming a much more strategic role in the organization and needs its infrastructure to be designed, implemented and maintained by highly skilled, highly trained individuals."
Other key findings of the IDC white paper include:
* Employers of all sizes and in all industries surveyed indicated that they will expand their skilled networking personnel over the next four years.
* The projected supply of skilled networking workers is not expected to keep pace with demand, resulting in an 8%, or 60,000 full-time skilled workers each year over the next three years.
* The emphasis on more specialty skills also implies that the competencies required in networking professionals are evolving in order to support employers’ increasing dependence on their networks.
"The IT workforce is changing," said Amy Christen, vice-president of corporate affairs and the Cisco Networking Academy. "With networks becoming more ubiquitous in business and everyday life, it is essential to raise awareness of the need for IT professionals.”
IDC collected data from 500 telephone interviews with network managers across a wide swath of industries and business types and sizes and correlated that data with projections from a number of sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
