Foreword

Cyber security breaches continue to significantly threaten governments, businesses and individuals worldwide. The demand for cyber security professionals has increased significantly in recent years around the world and is expected to continue to grow, and this trend has created shortages in labour markets in several countries. The first step in addressing skills shortage in the cyber security sector is to understand the supply and demand dynamics of cyber security skills. This information can be used by governments and organisations to identify their vulnerabilities and determine where additional resources are needed. By analysing job postings, trends in demand for cyber security professionals and the skills for creating a secure organisational environment can be identified. Meanwhile, studying the provision of cyber security education and training programmes provides insights into how the cyber security workforce is being developed and the potential misalignment between demand and supply.

This report analyses the demand for cyber security professionals in five countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States), and zooms in on the provision of cyber security education and training programs in England (United Kingdom). The report aims to provide a comparative analysis of cyber security demand in the five countries, with a detailed analysis of the education and training programmes and policies put in place in England to make the profession more attractive and diverse. The report is the first in a series of studies that aim to expand knowledge on the cyber security workforce and related education and training provision in various regions and countries.

This work has been carried out by the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs and the OECD Centre for Skills. The report was prepared by Diego Eslava (Chapters 1 and 2) and Iván Bornacelly (Chapters 1 and 3), under the supervision of Fabio Manca and Marieke Vandeweyer. Editorial assistance was provided by Natalie Corry. Valuable comments were given by Mark Pearson (OECD Deputy Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs) and El Iza Mohamedou (Head of the OECD Centre for Skills), as well as by Francesca Borgonovi (OECD Centre for Skills) and colleagues from the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation.

The OECD is grateful to stakeholders in England for their invaluable input and feedback throughout the project, in particular the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education. Our warm thanks go to the many education and training institutions, businesses, research institutions, and other organisations who generously shared their knowledge and insights during bilateral discussions. The support from Microsoft Philanthropies is highly appreciated.

The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the OECD member countries or Microsoft.