Publish date: 22 March, 2022We are proud to be the preferred place for more and more people to look for tech jobs because the IT sector in Bulgaria keeps growing and we work with almost all active IT employers who have made our industry an economic flagship.
You guessed it, we are referring to the results of the Bulgarian Association of Software Companies (BASCOM) annual Barometer report. According to the data, the growth of the sector in 2020 is 15%, expected to exceed 20.2% in 2021, and revenues are expected to reach BGN 5.4 billion, which is 4.3% relative to GDP. The number of professionals in the industry for the same period is over 46,200, or 1.5% of all employees in the country, and the sector will open more than 32,000 new jobs by 2025. In the words of BASCOM Chairman Dobroslav Dimitrov, “we are no longer a boutique industry” because the software sector is one of the biggest taxpayers in Bulgaria. In addition, there is a steady trend for new hires to be Bulgarians who have returned from abroad, with some companies having up to 13% of their total workforce.
This data provoked us to check what is happening in the “IT yard” of other countries in the Balkans and see if the grass is greener there than in ours.
Romania
The country’s software sector generated revenues of €6.8 billion in 2020, or 4% of GDP, according to data from ICT employers’ association ANIS and other public information. Moreover, over the last five years, the IT industry has experienced the highest growth rate in employees, whose number reaches 117,000 (1.4% of all employees in 2020). In the association’s analysis, we also read that the industry is facing a growing shortage of professionals, with an accelerated growth scenario that would see between 15 and 20 thousand new jobs open annually over the 2022-2025 period.
Greece
According to a report by the European Information Technology Observatory EITO and the Association of ICT Companies in Greece SEPE , in 2020 the IT industry has decreased by 7% compared to 2019, reaching a value of €1.9 billion, which represents 4.7% of national GDP, and a marginal increase of 0.6% is expected in 2021. Much of the data covers the entire ICT sector, so we can’t say exactly how many IT professionals were employed, but it will be recalled that tech giants such as Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Tesla have yet to pour investment into the Greek market, which will logically lead to employment growth in the sector.
North Macedonia
In our western neighbour, the software and IT services sub-sector is the largest employer in the entire ICT industry, with 9,676 employees in 2020 (1.22% of all employees), according to data from the ICT chamber of commerce MASIT, and the number is expected to reach at least 10,800 by the end of 2021. Between 2020 and 2021, there has been a near doubling of IT companies compared to 2016 and a near 135% increase in revenue, from €151m in 2016 to €352m in 2021, with the industry generating €313.34m in 2020, which is 2.9% of GDP. In order to stimulate the development of the sector and attract more young professionals into it, the government in the country is planning to reduce income tax in the industry from 10% to 0% by 2023.
Montenegro
The data for Montenegro combines the IT and BPO sectors, with their combined annual revenues for 2020 amounting to €56.3m, or 1.34% of GDP. We don’t know exactly how many IT professionals were employed, but according to the Montenegrin Investment Agency, the number of employees in the country’s top 30 companies in 2020 was 704.
Slovenia
According to the National Institute of Statistics of Slovenia, in 2020 companies in the IT sector generated revenues of €1.95 billion, or 4.2% of GDP. The number of employees was close to 20,200, representing 2.32% of all employees in the country.
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Albania
The IT sector is the fastest growing in the republic’s economy, with the hardware segment accounting for 55%, ICT for 30% and software for 15% of the total industry. According to our calculations, based on information we found on the website of the Albanian Investment and Development Agency AIDA, in 2020 the number of employees in the IT sector was 5,250, or 0.42% of the total number of employees.
Croatia
An analysis by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) shows that the country’s IT sector has increased its revenues by 3.3% year-on-year, reaching €3.7bn in 2020, or 2.5% of GDP. There were 5,700 companies operating in the industry, and 35,000 tech professionals employed (1.98% of the total), an increase of 6% compared to 2019. Between 2016 and 2020, 11,000 new jobs were created, with around 2,000 in 2020 alone.
Kosovo
The country’s IT sector is relatively new, with most companies established after 2000. This is probably the reason why there is no separate statistical information on it. After all, Kosovo is the country with the youngest generation in Europe, with more than 70% of people there under 35. According to a survey by the Kosovo ICT association STIKK, 87.10% of employers in the sector said they lacked qualified staff in 2020, and for 70%, the brain drain had the most negative impact on their business.
Serbia
In 2019, the Serbian IT industry generated revenues worth €2.51 billion (5.8% of GDP), with 2,349 companies operating in the industry and 28,543 employees. The information is from the ICT cluster VOICT, which makes the point that the percentage of IT professionals in relation to all employees during the year is quite modest. In a statement at the end of December last year, Prime Minister Ana Bernabic said that the IT sector’s exports had reached €1.47 billion in the first 10 months of 2021 and the number of employees in it would exceed 40,000 by the end of the year, which is 1.38% of all employees.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
A total of 6,266 people were employed in the sector at the end of 2019 (nearly 0.8% of total employment), according to an analysis by BIT Alliance, the largest IT association in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with 30% of them being women. Also, out of an average of 926 vacancies for tech professionals on an annual basis, 388 could not be filled due to lack of candidates with relevant knowledge and skills. According to other public information, 701 IT companies operated in BiH in 2019, with annual revenues of €92.5 million, representing 0.52% of national GDP.
We’ll continue to keep a close eye on how the IT market is developing in the country and with our close neighbours, and in the meantime you can check out what new career opportunities await you on H512.COM’s Job Board.
