Men currently fill 71.7% of jobs in the UK digital sector, according to government research

The UK digital sector has a major gender imbalance, with fewer than one in three roles filled by women, a government report has found.

A study published by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport reveals that, in 2016, 71.7% of digital jobs across the country were staffed by a man. This compares with a mean of 55.6% across all the industries addressed by the department, and 50.4% for the UK jobs market as a whole.

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Last year a total of 1.46 million people were employed in the UK digital sector, a rise of 2.4% on the previous year. This equates to 4.5% of the total UK workforce.

In 2015 – the most recent year for which data was included in the report – the total annual exports of the UK digital sector increased 1.1% per cent year on year to £32.1bn. This represents 13.4% of the value of all UK exports during the year.

Almost three fifths – some £18.4bn – of exports from the UK digital sector in 2015 went to Europe, with £8.6bn heading for the Americas. Asia spent £3.2bn on UK digital services during the year, while the export markets for Africa and Australasia-Oceania were worth £1.1bn and £570m, respectively.