Barriers to digital tech employment and skills survey

Overview

Hackney council is committed to closing the skills gap to help residents get new skills, retrain and progress into good jobs - including in our local digital tech sector and digital tech jobs across industries.  

Examples of digital technology jobs and skills include cyber security, digital marketing and social media, web and app developers, data analytics, games developers, cloud computing, software engineers and developers, and many more.

We would like you to complete this short survey to help us understand what you see as the biggest barriers to jobs in the digital tech sector. We want to hear your views about how identity or background affects your job opportunities and what needs to be done to address barriers.

We plan to hold focus groups to discuss the issues in more depth. If you’d like to participate, the survey has a section for you to provide your details. If you are selected for focus group discussions you will receive a £20 Love2Shop or Prepaid Mastercard Digital Voucher for your time.

Why this is important

Hackney has become a prime location for companies involved in the digital tech sector. The sector is growing faster than other industries, creating many new jobs and making it increasingly necessary to foster greater diversity to deliver an inclusive economy, where everyone in Hackney - irrespective of background - has the opportunity to thrive and prosper.

However, some communities are starkly underrepresented in the digital tech economy. Only 2% of workers are from a Black, African, Caribbean or Black British background, only 11% have disabilities, 22% are aged 50 or above, and women make up only 17% of tech workers.

What we're doing

We've set up a Commission to understand the intersecting barriers facing our residents looking to launch their careers in the digital tech industry and how we can work with local employers to overcome these challenges.