WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. economy is coping with growing demand for tech workers, as the economy is becoming more and more digitized.
Six in 10 tech companies said that they were short of technology skilled workers in 2017, according to a recent survey report jointly released by the IT contractor Harvey Nash Group and consulting firm KPMG.
From 2005 to 2017, tech companies have been complaining about the shortage of skilled workers. For the past 12 years, there have only been three occasions where less than half of IT leaders were reporting skills shortages.
According to the survey, big data and data analytics remains the most in-demand skill, with 42 percent surveyed companies citing it as the most in-demand skill. Data analytic skills remained the most in-demand skill for a third year in a row, said the report.
According to data from the Labor Department, employment of computer and information technology occupations is projected to grow 13 percent from 2016 to 2026, faster than the average for all occupations.
IT occupations are projected to add about 546,100 new jobs. These jobs also delivered higher wages. The median annual wage for computer and information technology occupations was 82,860 U.S. dollars in May 2016, higher than the median annual wage for all occupations of 37,040 dollars, said the Labor Department.
The high demand of tech jobs traces back to the digitalization of the U.S. economy. Between 2002 and 2016, the shares of U.S. jobs that require substantial digital knowledge rose rapidly, mostly due to large changes in the digital content of existing occupations, according to a report by the Brookings Institute.
According to the report, the share of jobs in high digital skills rose from 5 percent in 2002 to 23 percent in 2016, and the share of medium digital skill jobs rose from 40 percent in 2002 to 48 percent in 2016.
However, in the same period, the share of low digital skill jobs dropped to 30 percent in 2016 from 56 percent in 2002.
The rapid pace of digitalization since 2001 suggested that the acquisition of digital skills is now a prerequisite for economic success for American workers, industries and metropolitan areas, said the Brookings Institute in the report.
