Whitepaper: Understanding the tech skills shortage in the workforce

There is a worrying gap in tech skills among IT professionals today. Identifying and filling these gaps in your IT teams is the first step toward advancing your company in the face of rapid technological advancements.

64% of companies cite IT talent shortage as a barrier to growth (compared to 4% in 2020). This massive gap growth is due to a combination of factors, including the effects of the pandemic and rapidly evolving technological advancements.

To help you overcome the tech skills gap at your company, change how you find candidates and support your current ones. Lighthouse Labs has written an in-depth whitepaper that outlines the reasons for tech talent scarcity, its impacts on our workforce, and four specific strategies for training or finding more skilled IT candidates.



Why is there a tech skills shortage?

There are many possible reasons for today’s shortage of skilled IT and technical professionals:

  • Workers seeking more flexible or remote working conditions
  • The “great resignation” (staff who decided they wanted a change as a result of the pandemic)
  • “Quiet quitting” (disengaged staff doing the bare minimum to keep their job)
  • Workers not getting opportunities for upskilling or reskilling on the job (54% of employers say a tech skills shortage in tech is preventing their organization from keeping up with the pace of change)
  • Workers feel there is a limited career progression
  • Workers are being attracted to “gig economy” and other independent worker jobs (estimated to make up 36% of the US workforce)
  • Workers struggling to keep up with advancing tech and cyber threats
  • Burnout from being overworked (58% of IT talent reports burnout on the job)


Impacts of not addressing the skills shortage now

The need for IT professionals with up-to-date tech skills is expected to grow as our technology advances. That’s why if we don’t address the tech skills shortage now, we risk:

In addition, your company will be unable to keep up with security concerns and may suffer productivity loss when your IT workers aren’t skilled enough to optimize your digital tools and strategies.

Benefits of closing the skills gap

Closing the skills gap has more immediate benefits for your company:

  • It is cheaper to retain and upskill current employees than hire new ones (rehiring can cost as much as 100-200% of the employee's salary)
  • You can better mitigate against today’s cyber threats (and the related reputation and financial costs of a breach)
  • You get better, data-based insights to inform critical business decisions.
  • You’ll notice increased employee satisfaction, resulting in lower employee turnover (and the loss of productivity).


How to overcome the tech skills gap today

If not addressed today, by 2030, over 4 million tech roles will be unfilled due to a lack of skilled talent, contributing to over US $162 billion in lost revenue.

Dive deeper into the current state of the tech skills gap, analyze its future impacts, and learn how Lighthouse Labs can help you reskill and upskill your current employees or find highly qualified recent graduates to fill the gaps in your organization.