## The Global Competition for Technology Talent – IMF Finance & Development Magazine | March 2019 ## Source details **Canonical URL:** [The Global Competition for Technology Talent – IMF Finance & Development Magazine | March 2019](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/03/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa) ## Other formats - [Markdown version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/03/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa/index.md) - [Structured JSON version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/03/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa/index.json) - [Bundle manifest](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/03/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa/bundle-manifest.json) ## Bibliographic details - Authors: PEDRO NICOLACI DA COSTA - Published: March 1, 2019 --- ### Overview - Countries, cities, and firms are increasingly competing to attract a limited pool of qualified technology workers as tech roles expand across industries. - Tech spending was expected to grow to $3.7 trillion last year, up 6 percent from 2017, according to Gartner Inc. - Companies and governments are using financial incentives, tax breaks, relocation packages, and targeted programs to recruit or train tech talent. ### Global shortage and economic stakes - Technology and science jobs in the United States outnumbered qualified workers by roughly 3 million as of 2016 (Randstad NV). - By 2030 there will be a global shortage of more than 85 million tech workers, representing $8.5 trillion in lost annual revenue (Korn Ferry). - Projected shortages by economy (Korn Ferry): - Brazil, Indonesia, and Japan: up to 18 million workers apiece. - United States: 6 million. - Russia: 6 million. - China: 12 million. - The tech share of US GDP has surged more than sixfold since 1980 (PwC), while employment in the sector has not expanded materially. ### Employer and government recruitment strategies - City- and country-level initiatives: - Wellington, New Zealand: flew in 100 high-skilled workers and their families to interview with local tech firms; more than 48,000 people from 28 countries applied. - Amsterdam/Netherlands: offers a 30 percent income tax exemption for foreign workers (“the 30 percent rule”), making hiring expats attractive. - Portugal: offering residency and the prospect of eventual citizenship to tech workers and entrepreneurs; programs to incentivize hiring and reinvestment. - India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Skill India in 2015 to nurture tech skills in the younger generation. - China: sends millions of young students overseas for secondary education and technology training; has had limited success attracting them back and attracting foreign talent. - High-profile corporate-location competition: - Amazon’s second headquarters contest resulted in incentives worth nearly $2.5 billion from selected locations (New York City and Arlington, Virginia); plans for a New York base were later abandoned following objections. ### Employer responses and mobility - Firms across sectors (software, retail, finance, municipalities) increasingly compete aggressively for data scientists, software engineers, programmers, and cloud computing experts. - Remote work expands the talent pool but increases cross-border poaching risks. - Examples: - Darren Kidd, a 32-year-old developer, moved from Perth to Wellington in August to join Xero Limited; pay comparable when adjusted for cost of living and quality-of-life factors were decisive. - Pedro Presa chose the Netherlands over London and Berlin for ease of hiring expats and tax incentives; Mycujoo set up in 2014 and opened an office in Lisbon two years ago; Mycujoo now has 18 employees and expects to hire three dozen more in the next year. ### Training, local development, and retention challenges - Where recruiting from abroad is infeasible, companies and governments invest in local training: - Google launched a free training program in March 2017 aimed at closing the digital divide; Google expects to train 10 million high-skilled workers in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. - Ndubuisi Ekekwe (First Atlantic Semiconductors & Microelectronics, founded 2010) partners with local universities to run workshops and develop courses to groom specialized workers. - Retention tactics and constraints: - High-skilled workers trained locally can be poached by multinational firms or foreign-funded start-ups. - To reduce poaching, some firms relocate operations (example: Ekekwe moved headquarters from Lagos to Owerri, a city of 1.2 million people, to be farther from competitors). - Wellington’s approach combined city-led recruitment with partnerships with domestic firms like Xero to boost success; natural amenities and quality of life were additional draws. ### Key takeaways and policy implications - The competition for tech talent is driven by pure supply and demand dynamics and is becoming a public policy priority for many governments. - Successful strategies observed in the piece include: - Tax incentives and targeted residency/citizenship offers to attract foreign talent. - Large-scale recruitment campaigns and centralized hiring events to boost applicant pools. - Investment in training and partnerships with educational institutions to build local talent pipelines. - Nonwage factors—quality of life, family transition services, and cultural fit—play a significant role in attraction and retention. - Risks include escalating wage pressures, uneven geographic distribution of talent, and persistent global shortfalls that could translate into substantial lost revenue. *The Global Competition for Technology Talent – IMF Finance & Development Magazine | March 2019* --- ## Content in this bundle - **التهافت على المواهب التكنولوجية** - [التهافت على المواهب التكنولوجية (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/march/ar/dacosta.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [التهافت على المواهب التكنولوجية (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/march/ar/dacosta.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **La lucha por el talento tecnológico ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2019** - [La lucha por el talento tecnológico ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2019 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/march/es/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [La lucha por el talento tecnológico ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2019 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/march/es/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Chasse aux talents technologiques** - [Chasse aux talents technologiques (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/march/fr/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Chasse aux talents technologiques (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/march/fr/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Global competition for technology workers** - [Global competition for technology workers (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/march/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Global competition for technology workers (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/march/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Борьба за таланты в области ИТ – Финансы и развитие – март 2019 года** - [Борьба за таланты в области ИТ – Финансы и развитие – март 2019 года (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/march/ru/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Борьба за таланты в области ИТ – Финансы и развитие – март 2019 года (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/march/ru/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **高科技人才争夺战 - 金融与发展** - [高科技人才争夺战 - 金融与发展 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/march/zh/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [高科技人才争夺战 - 金融与发展 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/march/zh/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} --- _Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/03/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa_