The economic scenario still shows no signs of improvement. Employees suffer a significant deterioration in purchasing power (with a fall in real salaries of between 10% and 12%, according to the Argentine Institute of Fiscal Analysis), while factory closings and employee suspensions are the order of the day.All this is corroborated in the official figures: according to the Ministry of Labor, the last 12 months showed the scariest face of the crisis, since 270,000 jobs were lost.
The same agency reports that only 86,000 jobs were destroyed in the first quarter. If we look at what happened in the last three years, the sector that has been hit hardest is the industrial sector, where 137,000 people lost their jobs.
However, there is a segment to which the crisis passes through his side and is the perfect exception to the rule. These are the professionals who work in the ICT sector (New Information and Communication Technologies). Moreover, as iProUP has been reporting, in this activity demand outstrips supply and companies are constantly looking for staff, either to fill vacancies or to strengthen their staff in the area.
The managers of the companies know the strategic importance of this type of resources in the face of what is coming. Consequently, they do not skimp on the salaries offered, which, by the way, surpass by several points those of other activities.A study prepared by Prince Consulting for Comunidad IT (ComIT) estimates that this year:
- The need for companies will be close to 12,900 positions, for a job offer that will only be 9,500 professionals
- As a result, the unsatisfied demand will be around 3,400 positions, 31% higher than in 2018
It is true that there was a slight upturn in the offer (3% compared to the previous year), but it is also true that the total requirements, in percentage terms, tripled (9%).
Strictly speaking, the human capital at the end of last year reached 432,300 positions and it is estimated that by the end of this year it will amount to 441,800 positions, which represents just over 2.2% of the economically active population."The changes in the economic scenario and the evolution of the real exchange rate can boost the export of this activity to very high levels," assures iProUP Pablo Listingart, executive director of ComIT.
And he adds: "This will be accompanied by a growth in labor demand, something in which almost 8 out of 10 industry benchmarks are consulted", who also foresee a favorable and sustained trend for this sector.How much do IT professionals earn?
In 2018, the IT industry exported US $ 1.7 billion (out of a total of US $ 3,283 of total turnover), and is emerging as one of the most promising in the future.
The latest salary scales show that the category enjoys an enviable level of income. As the demand exceeds the offer, the firms try by all means that their professionals are not "stolen" by the competition or decide to work abroad.
According to a survey by the human resources consultancy Adecco:
- The IT manager of a large company located in Buenos Aires can earn $ 242,829 per month on average, while a colleague who works at a small-sized firm in the Cuyo area, $ 107,760 per month.
The same goes for the remuneration of a project leader:- If you are an employee of a major company in the Federal Capital, you can receive a salary of $ 102,647, but if you do it in a SME in the Central area, your compensation goes down to $ 57,266
In the case of the initial positions, the gap remains:
- While a Help Desk analyst earns $ 66,485 per month if he works in a large company in Buenos Aires, the same position gets $ 37,267 in a small company in Patagonia
In the meantime, if it is a semi-senior programmer analyst:
- Charge $ 52,570 average month if you work in a medium-sized company in Buenos Aires, and $ 36,453 if you work in a small firm in the downtown areaEducation issue
Despite the enviable salary incentives, a study prepared by ComIT reveals that the main problems of ICT professionals continue to be the lack of vocational interest and the abandonment of students' careers.
This happens, in general, as a result of the tempting job offers they receive before obtaining the degree, which leads them to choose the job and relegate the studies or directly to terminate them. This situation generates a vicious circle: in the absence of professionals, companies end up hiring more and more students. Long and little updated races worsen this scenario.
"While there is a great demand, the development of human talent involves long training processes, ideally to work collaboratively, generate academies and training poles among all parties and not independently, as it often unfocuses companies of its core business, "says the Managing Director of Experis Argentina.
For his part, Acuña adds: "It is necessary to pay attention to the talent training programs and discuss the training system in a comprehensive manner to take advantage of an eventual economic growth and contribute to the growth of employment."
Companies are aware that they can not wait for professionals to be available when they need it; therefore, they must be cultivated indoors. In this framework, in addition to providing them with internal training, they have also begun to take advantage of external resources: 15% of the firms have already partnered with universities and industry organizations to build talent communities.Impulse by the Law of Economy of Knowledge
With the recent unanimous approval of the Law of the Knowledge Economy, both the report and the specialists predict a promising future for the industry. Even the most optimistic predict the creation of more than 250,000 jobs, including up to 441,800 in the medium term.
"The best option to aggiornate the sector in the face of the growing labor demand is to unify the efforts of the private and public sector.All the actors have the responsibility to enhance and maximize the quantity and quality of IT growth", assures iProUP Roberto Manguel, Managing Director of Experis Argentina.The progressive incorporation that companies make of the new "4.0" technologies will further widen the gap between that supply and demand.
In this sense, Soledad Acuña, operational director of ComIT, highlights: "The number of workers in this branch of activity remained almost static in recent years, the training system, including university degrees and other alternatives, remains inflexible."
And it is in this context that the flaming Law of Knowledge Economy emerges, a continuity of the Law of Software Promotion. "We understand that it will give a strong boost to the growth of companies, opportunities will open up for all the members of the ecosystem," anticipates Guillermo Bracciaforte, co-founder of Workana.
In this way, the Knowledge Industry is positioned as one of the most promising in Argentina, although it also has the challenge of training the personnel necessary to cover the thousands of vacant positions and thus reducing the gap between supply and demand.