Unlimited ICT Jobs for a Limited Number of Young People

Abstract

The booming ICT sector, with new job profiles and more and more young start-up companies, and its hunger for young people with a technical background seems to guarantee a well-paid job and promises rapid job-insertion and personal challenge. Yet these glamorous opportunities do not increase the interest of students in ICT-relevant technical subjects. Why do young people not enrol in these courses more frequently or at least follow short training courses to become web-masters, multimedia experts, etc.? Does the ICT industry only attract a certain type of person? Why are women still under-represented? The article reflects these questions in the light of the German discussion of this issue.

Are we ready? Labour market transit to the digital economy

“…The second concept of credential inflation attempts to describe a relatively new phenomenon. Industrialised countries have experienced a trend towards increasing the educational requirements for job access, without a substantive change in the complexity of those jobs (Glott & Paul, 2003). That promotes scenarios where individuals invest more in education than the economic return obtained (Werfhorst, 2007).…”