Europe’s S&T jobs

The science and technology sector in the European Union has grown more than 30% over the past five years, with education providing the bulk of new jobs, according to a recent European Office of Statistics report, Highly Qualified Workers in Science and Technology.

Of the 214 million people employed in the EU’s 27 member countries, 74.9 million, or 35%, now work in S&T occupations. Of those, 34 million are highly qualified, that is, they hold a master’s degree or higher or work as a professional or technician in an S&T field, the report says. Luxembourg and Denmark have the largest percentages of their employed populations working in highly qualified positions in S&T, each with about a quarter. The sector is growing fastest in Cyprus and Poland, a result, the report says, of “several activities [by the EU and the individual governments] to increase the involvement of young people in science.” In contrast, Germany saw a 2.6% drop from 2001 to 2006 in the number of highly qualified S&T workers aged 25–34. More than half of the highly qualified workers in Ireland, Finland, and Switzerland work as scientists and engineers. The report is available online at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46587259&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&p_product_code=KS-SF-07-103 .