Overview

There is a very high demand for qualified IT professionals throughout Sweden, as a result of the large presence of multi-national ICT firms, start-up technology companies, research and development institutions, and numerous technology parks. Therefore, there is a large demand for human capital in regions throughout the country, which is fueled by the educational institutions that specialize in IT programs. The government has been very involved in ensuring there are programs in place to meet the needs of the ICT Industry, whether in the form of primary or secondary school systems, or occupational training for current professionals.

General Education

Sweden has extremely high levels of education with a 99% literacy rate. A common way to measure education levels is through the proportion of the population with post-secondary education. According to the report, Facts about Information and Communications Technology in Sweden , the USA has a 35% proportion of population with post-secondary education, Finland 32%, and Sweden close behind with 30%. Compared to the EU average of 21%, these numbers illustrate how much these countries excel in the area of further education. (14)

IT Education

Sweden reflects its commitment to creating an "Information Society for All" through its extraordinarily high level of IT education and training. The major shift towards technology training began around 1990. "Within the technology field, the number of graduates increased by 75% during the 10 year period 1990-2000" (14) I found this report, Facts about Information and Communications Technology in Sweden 2002, to be very informative about recent IT education initiatives. Some other interesting facts I found are as follows:

• Sweden 's school systems have a 96% access rate to the internet.
• IT Studies on the increase: Students in Technology field increased by 42% between 1995 and 2000.
• The number of women studying IT doubled between 1995 and 2000.
• IT pipeline from 2000: 4,076 IT graduates out of a total of 39,177 graduates (approx 10%). (14)

It is also important to note that Sweden's technology industry went through some of the same high's and low's as the United States from 1998 to 2002. There is a definitive increase in students applying for IT courses from 1997 to 1999, however in 2001/2002 the number of applicants began to drop off fairly quickly. Regardless, the number of students accepted continued to gradually increase. As a result, even though there was diminished interest, there was still more demand than available places in the courses, so the numbers of graduates continued to increase. (6)

Employment for the IT educated

A contributing factor to the number of IT professionals in Sweden is the perceived status of different IT positions. Göteborg University did a study in 2002 on the valuation of IT professions based on status out of 100 professions and came up with the following information.

Rank 9: Engineer (Masters)

Rank 14: Software Consultant

Rank 19: Engineer (BS)

Rank 24: Web Designer

Rank 29: Computer Operator (6)

As illustrated, IT Professions are highly respected and sought after in Swedish society. There are two main industries in Sweden that employ IT specialists, ICT- related service companies and electronics. According to Facts about Information and Communications Technology in Sweden 2002 (14), within the electronics industry, 7,500 or approximately 11% of the total employees were IT specialists, whereas within ICT-related service companies, there are 22,000 IT specialists or 15% of total employees.

Government Initiatives

As I mentioned earlier, the government has played a role in filling the gaps where more IT education is needed. One of the main problems before 1998 was the lack of available IT professionals to fill IT jobs. This was especially prevalent in the three main cities in Sweden, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. Even with the high levels of IT education being provided from very early stages in schooling, the need is for IT professionals with extensive post-secondary educations. The unemployment rate for these professionals is approximately 3%.* To address this problem, the government established a program in Jan 1998-March 2000 called Sweden Information Technology - Occupational Training (15). This program was designed to work with the country's employment offices, among other entities, to provide enough of an extended education through classes such as systems analysis and programming, so that attendees would be qualified to fill roles that were needed within an organization. This program, along with many others, contributed greatly to the rise in qualifications of IT professionals in Sweden.