Brazil Fears “Manpower Blackout” as IT Skill Shortage Worsens

Brazil’s IT services industry may face a “manpower blackout” if it continues to ignore the need to equip its young people with technology skills, Italo Nogueira, president of Assespro (Association of Brazilian Information Technology Companies) has warned.

More than 100,000 IT positions are lying vacant in the country despite the fact that technology firms are paying their employees an average of three times more than their counterparts in other sectors.

The number of unfilled positions may increase to 500,000 by the end of 2024, the organization underlined in a recent report.

Brazil has more than 15 million unemployed people, yet IT companies are struggling to fill up vacant positions. There are many factors contributing to this dearth of talent.

“It is a gigantic challenge. First, we stopped training. And, with the dollar at R$6, we started to lose many young people to other parts of the world,” the official said in an interview with a local news outlet Poder360.com.

The shortage of skilled labor, Nogueira says, could hamper innovation activities in all industries across the country, forcing Brazil to import all its technology solutions from foreign countries.

“(We may) become just a consumer of technology from different countries, without exporting our technology to other countries,” he added.