Economic Effect of Lviv IT Industry Reached a Record Amount

Economic indicators

The turnover of the IT industry of Lviv in 2017 amounted to $ 618 million, which is twice as much as in 2015. The economic effect created by the local IT industry over the past year was almost $ 1 billion, compared with $ 734 million in 2016. The overall economic effect of $ 919 million consisted of direct – $ 559 million and indirect – $ 360 million. In the structure of the GRP of Lviv (which equals $ 2.7 billion), the IT share amounted to 21% in 2017 and 20% – in 2016. The technology industry has created about 63 thousand new jobs in Lviv: direct employment reached 21 thousand people, indirect and induced employment – 42 thousand people. In a year, the average monthly income of IT professionals has also increased – from $1740 in 2017 to $1880 in 2018. The reported growth dynamics is 8%.

Portrait and expenses of IT professionals

Working in the IT industry is no longer regarded as solely male, but gender distribution is still in favor of men – 67% of IT employees are male. The proportion of women is gradually increasing, making it 33% now. The average age of an IT employee – 28 years. The survey of more than 800 IT employees allowed us to make a detailed portrait of a Lviv IT professional: they pay attention to health, travel, engage in charity and freelance in free time. Most of the interviewed IT specialists do sports (63%), are married (48%), and almost one third have children (28%). 81% of the surveyed save money, but only 34% confirmed that they use Ukrainian banks for savings. 48% of IT professionals admitted to supporting charity initiatives. Over the last year, they spent $ 2.4 million on charity. This is twice as much as, for example, the amount spent on visiting cinemas ($ 1.2 million). They provide not only money support (88.2%), but also free intellectual services (18.1%), and help personally (14.3%). 41% of Lviv IT professionals live in rented accommodation, 37.1% – in their own, 20.8% live with parents. 27% of the surveyed has bought real estate in the last three years. On the primary real estate market, 23.2% of the total number of commissioned apartments in Lviv was purchased by the representatives of IT community in 2017, and 22.5% in 2018. 45.2% of IT specialists own a car, 17% of which own two or more cars. 74% of the respondents traveled for recreation within Ukraine and 70% – abroad. In general, Lviv IT specialists visited 67 countries throughout the year. 62% of IT employees used air travel services during the year. Top 5 most popular travel destinations in Ukraine include Carpathian Mountains, Kyiv, Odesa, Bukovel, Ternopil. Top 5 travel destinations abroad: Poland, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Spain.

Main trends

The growth of the industry is indisputable – both within the existing companies and due to the emerging of new ones. The growth rate of companies is determined by the amount of human capital in the city, the development of which is promoted by the consolidated efforts of the IT community. Over the past 3 years, 18 new technical degree programs have opened at higher educational institutions of Lviv. During 2 years, approximately 8288 people trained on non-academic/private IT courses. 28% of new companies opened in Lviv this year. Among the factors that contribute to success and influence the potential of the development of the IT industry in Lviv, experts highlight the growing demand for products and services of the tech industry, the attractiveness of the city for IT specialists from other regions of Ukraine, a favorable investment climate, as well as the fruitful cooperation of the industry with educational establishments, and the development of IT infrastructure. DOWNLOAD IT Research 3.0 HERE.

About IT Research 3.0

The research and analytical stages of the project lasted 4 months. The integrated methodology of IT Research 3.0 has a sociological and economic component, and also uses numerous research tools: sociological surveys, expert interviews, public information requests. The research stage included:

• survey of 821 IT specialists working in Lviv
• analysis of 317 companies
• 53 requests for public information sent to the appropriate entities
• calculation of costs of 21 companies
• 8 in-depth interviews with top-managers of companies