Digital skills shortage 'limiting growth' on IOM, says business leader

Kristan McDonald said more needed to be done to attract skilled workers to the island

A lack of digitally skilled workers continues to hamper growth for some Manx firms, the head of the island's Chamber of Commerce said.

Kristan McDonald said it was impacting the Isle of Man's financial services and e-gaming sectors.

Labour market data shows the Isle of Man had low unemployment rates in 2022, with a high number of vacancies.

Mr McDonald said the island was struggling to attract those with digital skills.

Countries like Portugal were doing a "good job" in recruiting them by using legislation and offering incentives to live and work there, he added.

"For a lot of people it doesn't matter where you are and what time zone you are in as long as the work gets done, so why not live somewhere that's really nice, and has a vibrant outside of work culture."

But the Isle of Man does not "have a lot of that, in all honesty", so the government must focus its efforts instead on removing barriers and creating incentives for those who want to relocate, Mr McDonald said.

Without this, firms will "carry on establishing brass plaques here" and employ workers elsewhere, which "doesn't help us", he added.

Challenging year

A government plan to create 5,000 new jobs on the island by 2032 includes plans to invest in developing skills through the education system.

It also includes commitments to improve infrastructure on the island to make it a more attractive relocation option.

The chamber of commerce still held frustrations about the responsiveness of the civil service, and its ability to collectively deal with issues like recruitment, Mr McDonald said.

The body, which represents hundreds of Manx business, had put proposals to retrain workers and skill people coming out of education to the government earlier this year, he added.

But after some "really good initial engagement" the work "fell into a black hole" and progress stalled, Mr McDonald said.

And he admitted it had been a challenging year for both government and the private sector due to soaring energy costs and record inflation.