IT to generate 5.8 m new jobs by 2013 - IDC
Information technology will be an employment machine, generating 5.8
million new jobs in the coming four years, according to International
Data Corporation (IDC) research released Sunday.
IDC said that the IT industry will be an engine powering economies
out of economic doldrums, creating more that 75,000 new businesses in
the next four years and adding jobs at a rate of 3 percent annually.
"Countries that foster innovation and invest in infrastructure,
education and skills development for their citizens will have a major
competitive advantage in the global marketplace," said Microsoft chief
executive Steve Ballmer.
"In this fundamental economic reset, innovative technologies will
play a vital role in driving productivity gains and enabling the
creation of new local businesses and highly skilled jobs that fuel
economic recovery and support sustainable economic growth."
US software colossus Microsoft sponsored the IDC research into the
impact of IT in 52 countries that represent 98 percent of the global IT
spending.
"IT spending growth is a good sign as we come out of the recession,"
Microsoft Corporate Affairs communications manager Scott Selby told AFP.
Employment growth in IT related jobs will be three times that of
overall job growth in what Selby said is a "good driver of economic
growth."
While the world has been in the grip of a recession, it has also been
in the midst of a "technology renaissance" flush with advances in
software, devices, and Internet-based services, according to IDC.
IDC expects IT spending in the countries studied to grow at slightly
more than three percent annually, three times as fast as the gross
domestic products between now and the year 2013.
In what is good news for software powerhouse Microsoft, spending on
software is predicted to grow faster than overall IT spending, rising
4.8 percent annually.
"Software is a driving force behind this IT growth," Selby said. "IT
allows us to do more with less."
New technologies are also ushering in a new "cloud computing"
paradigm in which applications are provided online as services instead
of as software bought and installed on home or office machines,
according to IDC.
Money saved by using software as needed "in the cloud" instead of
buying, maintaining, and updating applications will likely be devoted to
bringing new products or services to market faster and cheaper,
according to Selby.
IDC estimates that cloud services could add $800 billion in net new
business revenues between the end of 2009 and the end of 2013.
"Over the past 20 years, we've seen transformative power in how
investments in IT innovations foster economic growth," said founder of
the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in Washington, DC,
Robert D. Atkinson.
"Continued innovation and investment in information technology will
help jump-start recovery from the current recession and will
significantly contribute to the growth of employment and new
businesses."
Emerging markets will reap the greatest economic gains from IT,
according to Selby.
SAN FRANCISCO, (AFP) |