21st February 2010, www.nation.lk
The world’s mobile worker population will pass the 1 billion mark this year and grow to nearly 1.2 billion people, forming a third of the world’s workforce, by 2013, according to a forecast by IDC.
The most significant gains will be in the emerging economies of Asia/Pacific, where economic recovery and new interest in unified communications will drive growth in all aspects of mobility spending, IDC said.
The US has the highest percentage of mobile workers in its workforce, with 72.2 percent of the workforce mobile in 2008. It will remain the most highly concentrated market for mobile workers with 75.5 percent of the workforce, or 119.7 million workers, being mobile in 2013. Asia/Pacific, excluding Japan, represents the largest total number of mobile workers throughout the forecast, with 546.4 million mobile workers in 2008 growing to 734.5 million or 37.4 percent of the total workforce in 2013.
At the end of the forecast, 62 percent of the world’s mobile workforce is expected to be based in this region. Western Europe’s mobile workforce will enjoy a CAGR of 6 percent over the forecast period to reach 129.5 million mobile workers, 50.3 percent of the workforce, in 2013, surpassing the total number of mobile workers in the US. Japan’s mobile worker population will total 49.3 million in 2013, representing 74.5 percent of its total workforce.
This is essentially the sustainable limit of Japan’s mobile worker penetration, IDC said. The rest of the world, which comprised Canada and the emerging market countries in central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America, will see its mobile worker population grow to 153.2 million by 2013. In APeJ, the low penetration of mobile workers in the total workforce, which is at13.5 percent, signals significant growth potential in these markets.
Mobile worker refers to someone whose job involves working in different places. Research by IDC divides mobile workers into three categories, namely office-based, non-office-based and home- based mobile workers.Home-based mobile workers include telecommuters, or corporate employees who work at home during normal business hours. (Courtesy Telecom Paper)
Population of mobile workers are growing.
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