IT/Digital Media Industry: Industry Facts
- The IT workforce consists of almost 1.2 million. The sector is divided into two parts: those working in the IT industry and IT professionals working in other areas.
- There are almost 580,000 people working in companies in the UK whose primary function and business is IT; this accounts for approximately 2% of UK employment.
- Four out of ten UK businesses employ IT professionals.
- The average IT graduate starting salary in 2005 was £28,095.
- IT professionals tend to be better qualified than the general workforce, with more than half having completed some form of higher education.
- Women form less than 20% (one in five) of the IT workforce, which is significantly low in comparison with the 45% of the UK workforce overall.
- The IT industry invests significantly more in training than the average invested by all other industries.
- In an increasingly web-centric world, the five internet giants - Google, Amazon, ebay, Microsoft and Yahoo - currently dominate the market for services via the web.
- Employers are less likely to recruit school leavers. Less than one in ten employers have recruited a school leaver in the last two to three years.
- Employment is expected to increase by more than 20% in the next ten years.
