I have been reading a fascinating publication by e-Skills UK which the sector skills council recently published called Technology Counts – IT & Telecoms Insights 2008. This brings together a series of research reports aimed at providing insight into the current and future landscape of the sector.

The age profile of the IT sector is changing quite dramatically. Whereas in 2001 nearly one third of people working as IT and telecoms professionals were under 30, this has dropped to just over one in five in 2007. The image of IT as being a young profession has to be rethought.

Added to this is the alarming drop in people going in for computing degrees, down by 50 per cent between 2001 and 2006. While it is the case that only around half the annual graduate intake each year has a computing or telecoms degree, this is nevertheless a disturbing trend.

The continuing decline in the proportion of women in IT and telecoms further demonstrates that the sector is not one which women find attractive – and this situation is deteriorating. The proportion of women has dropped from 22 per cent to 18 per cent over the period from 2001 to 2007. This compares to the overall UK workforce being 47 per cent female.

These trends should be deeply worrying to everyone with an interest in seeing the IT and telecoms sectors survive and thrive. Productivity in the UK lags behind that in France and Germany, never mind the US. The informed consensus is that the largest contributory factor to this is the adoption and exploitation of IT. If we do not improve this, our productivity and competitiveness will suffer.

We must look seriously at how we can change this, not just for the future of the IT sector in the UK, but also for the future of the UK economy.