The Digital Skills Crisis refers to a growing Digital Skills Gap between the digital skills needed by businesses, governments and organisations, and the skills possessed by the workforce.
This digital skills crisis has significant implications for economic growth, social equality, and individual career prospects.
Understanding the Digital Skills Gap
Workforce Demand:
Technology continues to evolve rapidly, with industries requiring expertise in areas such as data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and cloud computing.
Skill Shortages:
Studies reveal that many workers lack even basic digital skills, let alone advanced ones. For example, the European Commission estimates that 90% of jobs in the EU require at least basic digital literacy, yet nearly 42% of EU citizens lack these skills.
Global Impact:
The digital skills crisis is not limited to advanced economies. In developing nations, the lack of digital skills hinders the adoption of technology and slows economic progress.
The Digital Skills Crisis has profound implications across various sectors, significantly influencing economies, societies, and workforces.
Economically, organisations face productivity losses and miss opportunities to leverage emerging technologies, hindering innovation and growth.
Socially, the crisis exaggerates inequality, deepening the digital divide and limiting access to education and job opportunities for marginalised groups.
Impact of the Digital Skills Gap
Economic Consequences:
- Productivity Loss: Organisations struggle to implement digital transformation due to insufficient skilled labour.
- Missed Opportunities: Businesses fail to capitalise on emerging technologies, stalling innovation.
Social Inequality:
- Digital Divide: Those without digital skills are excluded from many modern job opportunities, amplifying income inequality.
- Education Divide: Children from underprivileged backgrounds often lack access to digital learning tools.
Workforce Displacement:
- Automation and AI are eliminating some roles while creating others, but workers without relevant skills risk unemployment.
Strategies to Address the Skills Gap
With all the above mentioned, how can we tackle this situation and help best manage the digital skills gap in business?
Listed below are a few different areas that address the challenges of a digital skills gap, or for more detail you can read more in our article on how to solve the digital skills gap.
Government Initiatives
The response from worldwide Governments to support education of digital skillsets further demonstrates the necessity of these skills in modern society.
UK:
The UK has launched programs like the National Skills Fund to support adult retraining in digital fields.
EU Digital Decade:
Aims to ensure that 80% of European citizens have basic digital tech skills by 2030.
Singapore: Skills Future
The Singaporean government provides every citizen aged 25 and above with Skills Future Credits worth SGD 500. These credits can be used to access various training programs aimed at lifelong learning and upskilling, particularly in digital and emerging technologies like AI and data analytics.
India: Skill India Digital
India's National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) runs Skill India Digital, which includes a platform offering functionalities like recommendation engines, digitally verified credentials, and job exchanges to address digital skills gaps at scale.
France: Mon Compte Formation
This digital platform aggregates government and corporate funding for vocational training. It enables individuals to access a personal training account and choose from a catalogue of accredited courses. The initiative aims to make skills development accessible and relevant to industry demands.
Saudi Arabia: Waad Program
The Waad initiative, part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, integrates a national digital platform to provide comprehensive career guidance, training, and upskilling opportunities in collaboration with employers and training providers.
Conclusion
As the world gets more digital, it’s not just governments leading the charge to build tech skills; companies, schools, and local communities are pitching in too.
Big names like Google and Microsoft are making digital learning accessible through free or discounted programs, schools are preparing kids for the future with subjects like coding and AI, and grassroots initiatives are working hard to bring affordable internet and training to underserved areas.
It’s a team effort to make sure no one gets left behind in the digital age.
If left unaddressed, the Digital Skills Crisis could deepen economic divides, limit innovation, and hinder global economic growth.
The digital skills gap is a big challenge, and many countries are working on ways to boost skill development for both their current workers and those entering the workforce. One way some have tackled this is by using skills gap analysis to close the gap.
Using a skills framework can make it easier to figure out which skills are needed for a role. Employees often have hidden talents that their employers don’t even know about!
Tapping into these skills and reassigning people to roles where they can shine could give companies a real edge.
APMG can help close the digital skills gap with a broad range of Digital Skills Training courses, that focus on today’s most needed tech and professional skills.
In particular, APMG offers specialised certifications in AI such as Artificial Intelligence, AI-Driven Project Manager & Artificial Intelligence Practitioner. Additionally, APMG Accredits globally recognised training providers to help people and organisations gain reliable and reputable education in an everchanging digital world.
Plus, the programs are flexible and accessible worldwide, making it easier for anyone to learn and grow, no matter where they’re starting from!
