Scraped data as a source to study the demand for ICT specialists

Abstract

The ongoing digitalisation is profoundly transforming society, businesses, and the economy at large. Its impact also extends to official statistics, challenging traditional approaches to data collection and analysis. Statistical systems are embracing this shift by advancing along two key lines of work: the adoption of emerging technologies, and the utilisation of new data streams generated by the increasing datafication of our societies. One of the earliest use cases of this approach was the analysis of Online Job Advertisements. From the initial contextual analysis of job portals through web-scraping and data transformation into structured, coded formats, the complex methodology developed is continuously validated to ensure the production of high-quality statistics. The first results disseminated by Eurostat were focused on ICT specialists. According to the indicators used, ICT specialists accounted for 7% of total job advertisements in Europe during the first quarter of 2025, with Luxembourg (18.3%) and Malta (15.4%) leading. A key strength of this data source lies in its granularity, offering insights at the NUTS2 regional level, where statistical information is often limited. As a new statistical source, Online Job Advertisements also face exciting challenges that will shape not only the future of OJA-based information but also the evolution of next-generation statistics.