Wanted: Employees with Digital Skills

Companies are particularly keen on employees with digital skills, finds an ifo analysis of 1.8 million online job advertisements from companies in Munich and Upper Bavaria in the period from 2019 to mid-2022. Digital skills were required in 70 percent of the job advertisements evaluated. “In addition to specialist knowledge, it is increasingly important for employees to have skills that enable them to adapt to technological change,” says Oliver Falck, Director of the ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies.

“Companies especially like to see digital skills, problem-solving skills, and flexibility, which are useful for a variety of job tasks,” Falck says. “When it comes to digital skills, it’s not just application skills that are in demand. The ability to analyze large volumes of data or work in the cloud is also growing in importance. As expected, IT services and telecommunications top the rankings for these technical kinds of digital skills, but automakers and manufacturers of machinery and equipment are also right up there,” Falck adds. He is coauthor of an ifo study on skills and expertise in the modern world of work.