Increasing demand for Data Scientists

• 96 percent of companies have difficulty filling vacancies
• Data Scientists are currently hard to find on the job market

There is a massive increase in demand for data scientists in the German economy. Currently, data experts are very difficult to find on the job market. Currently, 6 percent of companies state that they employ specialists for data-driven business models. But 15 percent plan to hire such in the future. At the same time, just 4 percent of companies that currently have corresponding positions open say that filling them is rather easy - 58 percent, on the other hand, find it rather difficult and 38 percent even very difficult. These are the findings of a representative survey of 604 companies with 20 or more employees in Germany commissioned by the digital association Bitkom. "The business success of companies will increasingly depend on whether and how they can use data. Data scientists are becoming the most important competence carriers in companies across all industries. And for Germany's economy, it will be a decisive competitive question for the future whether there will be sufficient numbers of suitably qualified employees available in the future," says Bitkom President Achim Berg. "A professional field is opening up here that will gain enormous importance in the coming years."

Larger companies in particular already rely on data scientists today and want to increase their numbers here. One in three companies (33 percent) with 500 or more employees say they currently employ specialists for data-driven business models, and 38 percent plan to do so in the future. Among companies with 100 to 499 employees, 15 percent already have Data Scientists on board, and 10 percent plan to hire. Among smaller companies with 20 to 99 employees, only 3 percent have expertise for data-driven business models in-house, 15 percent are planning to hire.

Around one in four companies (28 percent) state that they train their own employees for data-driven business models. The main reasons for these training measures are the need for company-specific expertise (75 percent), an increasing demand for relevant expertise (46 percent) and difficulties in filling vacancies with external staff (25 percent). In order to counter the shortage of skilled workers, Bitkom is calling for the empowerment of women in IT and the promotion of qualified immigration to complement better education and training.