According to the Barclays Digital Development Index 2017 employers are willing to pay a significant premium for those people possessing skills such as programming and software design. Tony McDonough reports

Having the right digital skills can boost your earning power by up to £10,000 a year, a new study has found.

According to the Barclays Digital Development Index 2017 employers are willing to pay a significant premium for those people possessing skills such as programming and software design.

Earnings boosts of £3,000 a year are also up for grabs for those with graphic design, data and 3D modelling skills.

Growth area

The digital sector has bee identified as a major growth area for the Liverpool city region with growing clusters such as the Baltic Triangle close to Liverpool city centre.

Barclays analysed 88,000 UK job adverts and assessed the digital skills and confidence of 6,000 adults across then UK and found the North West, London, Northern Ireland and Scotland had the most digitally-skilled workforces.

The UK faces a major digital skills gap. The Barclays Index finds that 63% of UK jobs require digital skills such as word-processing, database spreadsheet or social media management skills, but only 57% of the workforce have these capabilities.

Age differences

And although they have up to 30 years left in their working lives, the study found ‘Generation X’ (35-54-year-olds) are being left behind.

Those aged 35-54 are 11% less likely than their millennial colleagues to say they are very confident about their digital skills.

Generation X workers are also more worried about their ability to keep their skills up-to-date – 23% have confidence in their ability to do so, versus 28% for millennials.

Digital prowess

Ashok Vaswani, chief executive of Barclays UK, said: “People’s level of digital prowess is fast becoming a key determinant of their earning power, yet the UK today is a patchwork of digital skills.

“Where you live, how old you are, what you do and your education level have an impact on your digital abilities and confidence.

“Digital skills can provide a vital boost to household finances and everyone deserves the opportunity to benefit from this.”