For the second consecutive year, there continues to be a growing concern over the availability of skilled talent to fulfill the needs of the burgeoning field of AI and data analytics, according to the Adastra 2024 Data Professionals Market Survey Forecast. Overall, almost 77% of data professionals in Canada believe the shortage of talent will continue throughout 2024, a 13% increase over 2023 survey (68%). The same number increases to 83% when examining respondents currently working within a mid-size operation (Between 200-500 employees).
The adoption velocity of data analytics and AI has accelerated the widening talent gap in two specific areas: frontline workers, with the capacity to co-pilot new analytic tools, strategies and programs, and senior data analysts/data scientists who can co-ordinate these activities and continue to discover meaningful insights within a business framework.
“We have certainly observed a spike in data analytics activity across all verticals, leading to a growing backlog of both talent and project demand within IT departments.”, said Rahim Hajee, North American CEO, Adastra. “Along with the shortage of qualified talent, the challenge in many companies is converting legacy mindsets and synergizing processes. This includes citizen enablement through re-training, allowing more members of an organization to participate through a no-code or low-code software environment.”
Similar to the 2023 forecast results, 87% of respondents consider using data a competitive differentiator, while only 45% per cent of respondents believe more new jobs will be created because of AI in 2024(compared to 58% of respondents in the US who believe more jobs to be created in 2024).