{"id":44002,"date":"2018-06-08T14:14:33","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T21:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=44002"},"modified":"2018-06-08T14:14:33","modified_gmt":"2018-06-08T21:14:33","slug":"students-need-it-skills-to-compete-in-the-new-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/students-need-it-skills-to-compete-in-the-new-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Students need IT skills to compete in the new economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy 2026, employment in computer and information technology occupations is\u00a0projected to grow<\/a>\u00a013 percent over what it was in 2016. Jobs in these fields will require skills in cloud computing, big data collection and storage, information security and more.<\/p>\n

As I argue in a\u00a0forthcoming paper<\/a>\u00a0in the Journal of Monetary Economics with\u00a0Giovanni Gallipoli<\/a>, these information technology \u2013 or IT \u2013 skills are increasingly required if you want a job with upward mobility and autonomy.<\/p>\n

A new \u201cIT intensity\u201d index that I developed illustrates this trend. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that measures tasks and skills across occupations, the index gauges how much occupations deal with information technology. I developed this IT intensity index as a\u00a0labor economist<\/a>\u00a0who studies\u00a0macroeconomic trends, policy and their interaction<\/a>\u00a0with individuals and labor markets.<\/p>\n

While the index is far from perfect, it allows us to distinguish between jobs that require more interaction with computers, whether it\u2019s software engineering or coding.<\/p>\n

Increase in IT jobs<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Using our IT intensity index, together with data tables from the\u00a0Occupation Employment Statistics program<\/a>, I found that IT intensive occupations grew by 19.5 percent between 2004 and 2017, while less IT intensive occupations only grew by 2.4 percent. That\u2019s more than eight times as large of a growth rate over the past decade.<\/p>\n

And yet, companies routinely\u00a0complain<\/a>\u00a0about not being able to find enough workers. While the skills gap for\u00a0digital and technical tasks<\/a>\u00a0is large, some researchers argue it is largest for\u00a0cybersecurity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is also concern about unmet demand for\u00a0coordination and communication skills<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The fact that so many prospective job candidates lack these skills might\u00a0help explain<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0decline in labor force participation<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0stagnation of median hourly wages<\/a>\u00a0over the past few decades.
\n

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\u2018IT intensive\u2019 jobs rose at eight times the rate as other jobs from 2004 to 2017. REDPIXEL.PL\/www.shutterstock.com<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

On the other hand,\u00a0new research<\/a>\u00a0suggests that the economic benefits of technological advancements \u2013 such as the development of artificial intelligence \u2013 do not always show up right away in national measurements of productivity growth. The research blames\u00a0\u201cimplementation lags\u201d<\/a>\u00a0in technology as a likely culprit.<\/p>\n

New models in higher education<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Educational institutions can help turn things around by equipping individuals with IT skills. Technology is changing at an increasing rate and a four-year degree may not give students the skills they need to remain competitive until retirement. Students today must become lifelong learners. To do that, universities need to provide their services to enough students to make an impact and focus on teaching relevant and tangible skills, particularly around data analysis, that are in increased demand. Several universities stand out as leaders in this regard.<\/p>\n

The standouts include Arizona State University and Georgia State University, which rank first and fourth, respectively, as the\u00a0most innovative universities<\/a>\u00a0in the United States, according to U.S. News. These schools are actively using\u00a0big data<\/a>\u00a0to help improve the delivery and scale of their services to improve student success rates.<\/p>\n

For example, GSU is using data analytics to\u00a0help predict<\/a>\u00a0how at-risk students might do in certain courses. This enables\u00a0better advising<\/a>, which in turn helps improve completion rates.\u00a0GSU has boosted its graduation rate<\/a>\u00a0to 54 percent in 2017 \u2013 up from 32 percent in 2003.<\/p>\n

>Benefits of completion<\/h4>\n

What does a college degree have to do with equipping students with IT skills? Using my measure of IT jobs, together with data from the\u00a0American Community Survey<\/a>\u00a0between 2005 and 2016, I find that workers with a college degree are 36 percentage points more likely to work an IT job, controlling for other demographic factors, such as age, race and gender. Even if a student does not major in computer science, universities provide an environment to cultivate the skills needed to excel in IT jobs, which demand\u00a0other interpersonal and noncognitive skills<\/a>. For instance,\u00a0other research<\/a>\u00a0that I\u2019ve done suggests that students who double major in STEM and liberal arts tend to earn 10 percent higher annual salaries than their counterparts who double major in just one broad field.<\/p>\n

ASU is another example of a university that has significantly boosted the number of students it educates. Specifically, ASU enrolled nearly\u00a0more than 98,000 students<\/a>\u00a0in 2016 \u2013 significantly more than the 73,000 it enrolled in 2012 \u2013 while simultaneously rising in\u00a0international rankings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the things that ASU does particularly well is provide students with real-world experience. For example, ASU\u2019s\u00a0Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative<\/a>\u00a0provides students with funding, mentoring and office space to co-found a startup.<\/p>\n

Encouraging students to engage with real-world problems not only directly cultivates their problem-solving skills, but also indirectly exposes them to the limitless possibilities of IT. Access to technology can help a startup to\u00a0stay competitive<\/a>. The same holds true for students.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong>Christos A. Makridis is an Economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By 2026, employment in computer and information technology occupations is\u00a0projected to grow\u00a013 percent over what it was in 2016. Jobs in these fields will require skills in cloud computing, big data collection and storage, information security and more. As I argue in a\u00a0forthcoming paper\u00a0in the Journal of Monetary Economics with\u00a0Giovanni Gallipoli, these information technology \u2013 […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":44003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[92219],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-44002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-computer-science"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStudents need IT skills to compete in the new economy - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/students-need-it-skills-to-compete-in-the-new-economy\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Students need IT skills to compete in the new economy - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By 2026, employment in computer and information technology occupations is\u00a0projected to grow\u00a013 percent over what it was in 2016. 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