Economic Impact Study
On 18th October, we shared the results of a survey conducted by IDC on the economic impact of IT, Software and Microsoft's part in this in 82 countries.
Download the full report here.
The study highlights the enormous impact that the ICT industry and the Microsoft partner ecosystem has on job creation and economic development.
From a UK perspective, the study shows that here spending on IT will reach £45.7 billion in 2007 and is expected to grow a further 5.5% pa over the next four years. It also found that IT spending on software creates a disproportionate share of the skilled job growth. Software drives activity in the services and distribution sectors, as well as in organisations using IT. So while UK spending on packaged software will be only less than a quarter of total IT spending in 2007, 59% of employment in IT will be software-related.
IDC findings also reveal that Microsoft-related IT activities in 2007 will be the source of nearly 550,000 jobs in the UK which amounts to 40% of total IT employment, currently standing at 1.37 million employees. The study forecasts that the UK IT industry will generate £29.6 million in tax revenue in 2007 increasing over the next four years to £35 million. In the same period, Microsoft-related jobs will increase globally by nearly 3 million as part of the 7.1 million new jobs for the IT sector worldwide.
The Microsoft ‘ecosystem’ - companies selling products that run on or with Microsoft software, or that service and distribute Microsoft software (namely, our partner channel) - also play a key role in driving the IT industry's overall contribution to job growth and economic development. In 2007, the Microsoft partner community is expected to generate more than £15 billion. For every £1 that Microsoft earns in the UK, another £7.50 is generated for our partner channel.
