The Professions of Digital Economy

HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge presents the data concerning the employment in professions which are connected with the intensive use of ICT. The estimates are based on the OECD methodology.

The number of ICT specialists is an indicator, which is widely used for measurement of employment in the digital economy¹. However, in the situation of economic transformation under the impact of information and communication technologies not only ICT professionals, but also employed in other occupations need digital skills. In order to measure the impact of digitalisation on employment, we estimated the number of workers whose jobs involve active application of ICT (‘ICT task-intensive occupations’) following the OECD methodology.

According to OECD, ICT task-intensive occupations are those which ‘have a high propensity to include ICT tasks at work ranging from simple use of the Internet, through use of word processing or spreadsheet software, to programming’ [OECD, 2019]. Besides ICT professionals, this group also includes managers and highly qualified workers specialising in financial, economic and administrative activities, sales, marketing, development, and social services, as well as physicists and chemists, architects, topographers and designers, and teaching staff of higher education organisations.

According to our estimates, the total number of people employed at jobs connected with the intensive use of ICT exceeds 8 million people in Russia (Table 1)².

Table 1. Employment in ICT task-intensive occupations: 2018³

	Thousand	% of total
Employment in ICT task-intensive occupations, total out of that:	8045,4	100,0
ICT professionals, total	1779,0	22,1
Information and communications technology service managers	66,1	0,8
Electrotechnology engineers	464,0	5,8
Software and applications developers and analysts	654,6	8,1
Database and network professionals	249,7	3,1
Information and communications technology operations and user support	126,7	1,6
Telecommunications and broadcasting technicians	68,6	0,9
Electronics and Telecommunications Installers and Repairers)	149,3	1,9
Other professions, total	6266,4	77,9
Business services and administration managers	745,5	9,3
Sales, marketing and development managers	254,5	3,2
Professional services managers	352,7	4,4
Physical and earth science professionals	96,9	1,2
Architects, planners, surveyors and designers	393,5	4,9
University and higher education teachers	271,6	3,4
Finance professionals	2474,7	30,8
Administration professionals	1145,6	14,2
Sales, marketing and public relations professionals	531,3	6,6

The workers employed in ICT-intensive occupations constitute 11% of employed people in Russia. The share of this group of specialists significantly varies by industry (Fig. 1). The peak values are peculiar to the information and communication sector (51%), finance and insurance (42%), and professional, scientific and technological activities (36%). The lowest level is in agriculture (less than 3%). At the same time, the ICT professionals constitute the majority of ICT-intensive workforce only in certain activity areas, namely electricity, gas and steam and air conditioning supply; information- and communication-related activities; and provision of other services.

Figure 1. Workers in ICT task-intensive occupations by type of economic activity⁴: 2018 (as percentage of all workers in economic activity)

 

In foreign countries the share of workers employed in ICT-intensive occupations ranges from 5 to 22% (Fig. 2). The highest values are noted in Luxembourg (22%), the US (18%), and the UK (17%); the lowest in Italy, Slovakia, Greece (7% each), and Turkey (5%). The Russian figure is comparable with the average for the European Union.

Figure 2. Workers in ICT task-intensive occupations by country: 2018 (as percentage of all workers)

 

In the examined countries the ICT specialists constitute between 1-7% of the employed in the economy, and the workers employed in other ICT-intensive occupations — between 4-17%. The share of ICT specialists in all employed in ICT-intensive occupations varies between 17% in Lithuania and 43% in Finland.

Sources:

Calculations based on Rosstat and the OECD data; results of the project ‘Preparation of Methodological, Informational and Analytical Materials on Digital Economy Indicators’ implemented according to the HSE thematic research plan.

By Anna Demianova, Olga Zhikhareva, and Zinaida Ryzhikova

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