Data centres and other ICT infrastructures are increasingly vital for all sectors of the economy, and green growth strategies will require people capable of both greening ICT itself and helping ICT to make other activities greener. ICT skills and employment: New competences and jobs for a greener and smarter economy (the OECD report mentioned above) argues that promoting ICT skills in the green and smart economy pays a double dividend by encouraging job creation and accelerating the transition to green growth.
The jobs wouldn’t just be in the sector itself. Employment in the ICT industry and employment of ICT specialist skills each accounts for up to 5% of total employment in OECD countries, but ICT intensive-users account for more than 20% of all workers in all branches. A car mechanic I know told me that when he started working 30 years ago, the first thing you did when a car came in to the repair shop (apart from telling the client it was a big job and would be ready on Tuesday) was to get your hands dirty poking around the engine or jacking it up, whereas now you start by plugging it in to a computer. And hundreds of other jobs across the whole skills range now need knowledge of ICT as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment