1.2 million job openings annually in project-oriented occupations{ }

TheGROWING GAPBetween Project Manager

Supply and Demand

PMI Today June 2009 Supplement

The Talent Gap

The Talent

Gap Evidence of this growth is theamazing increase in the numberof project managers who holdPMI’s Project ManagementProfessional (PMP)® credential. In the last nine years, the numberof PMP® credential holders hasgrown by more than 1,000 percent–to over 330,000 people.

The world economy is increas-ingly dominated by projects.Budgets represented by projectsare growing at a phenomenal rate,particularly in developing

economies, despite the currentglobal economic downturn. Areport in The McKinsey Quarterlysaid that $12 trillion—or one-fifthof the world’s GDP—will beinvested in projects each year inthe next decade.

Gross fixed capital formationis now at about $12 trillion, com-

pared with $2.6 tril-lion about fourdecades ago. This fig-ure, one of the meas-ures of economicgrowth used by theWorld Bank, primarilycomprises large infra-structure projects suchas construction ofroads, hospitals,schools, etc.

A recent studypublished in theJournal of Academy

of Business and Economics foundthat percentage increases of fixedcapital growth are even more dra-matic in emerging economiessuch as China and India.

A 2008 study by AndersonEconomic Group reported thatoverall demand for workers inproject-oriented occupations isgrowing faster than in other occu-pations. The study estimates thatemployment in project-orientedoccupations across all industrieswill grow 1.5 percent from 2006 to

2016, compared to 1 percentgrowth for total employment.

The study also established that there would be an evengreater demand in projectizedindustries. These are defined asindustries driven by projects such as manufacturing, construc-tion, pharmaceutical, IT and IS.Because they are growing fasterthan the overall economy, theseindustries are hiring more projectemployees, and are offering higher average pay for project-oriented workers (annual salariesof $89,000 vs. $49,000 for non-project-oriented workers).

The study also predicts thatfrom 2006 to 2016 the GDP ofthese industries will grow at

2 SUPPLEMENT PMI Today • June 2009

All monetaryfigures in U.S.dollars unlessotherwise indicated.

espite world economic woes,project managers can takecomfort in the fact that theyare part of a profession that

is in demand. A number of reports byeconomists and researchers indicatethat global demand for individuals

who are appropriately educated in theprinciples and tenets of project, pro-gram and portfolio management willincrease dramatically over the nextdecade. This is due in large measure tothe growth of projectized industries.

d

Gross fixed capitalformation is now at

about $12 trillion

US$

tri

llio

ns

Total PMP®Credential

Holders

an average of 5.6 percent, compared to 3 percent for total GDP growth. Therewill be 1.2 million job openings yearly in project-oriented occupations. There isconfidence in the data that the currentglobal economic situation will not affectthis long-range growth.

The Anderson study also forecasts thatby 2016, demand for employees in projec-tized industries will increase to 32.6 mil-lion, an increase of 33 percent over thedemand in 2006. Of these employees, 10.2million will be new workers, whichmeans that roughly 31 percent of totalproject-oriented workforce will need to benewly trained by 2016.

Falling SupplyAt the same time, the supply of qualifiedproject professionals will be falling dur-ing the next decade. Many experiencedproject managers are nearing the retire-ment age and not enough individuals areentering the profession every year.

Many of the individuals activelyworking as project managers are now atretirement age. In the United States, theGeneral Accounting Office estimates thatthe current global workforce will bedown by 30 percent over the next 10 years.This mirrors overall trends in the world’slabor force.

In 1950, the fraction of the total popu-lation in advanced economies who hadreached the retirement age of 65 years orolder was well under 10 percent. By2005, it had grown dramatically from the1950 levels: from 8 percent to 12 percentin the United States, from 8 percent to 13percent in Canada, from 5 percent to 20percent in Japan, and from 9 percent to

17 percent in the 25 countries that todaymake up the European Union.

By 2050, this fraction will reach 21 per-cent in the United States, 26 percent inCanada, 29 percent in the EU, and 36 per-cent in Japan, according to UN projectionslast updated in 2004. Even in India andChina, the world’s two largest emerging

economies, the percentage of those atretirement age is projected to rise fromless than 5 percent to 15 percent in Indiaand 24 percent in China.

Of PMI’s 300,000 members, 35 percent are in the 40 to 49 year age bracket, 20percent are in the 50 to 59 year bracket,and 3 percent are in the over 60 bracket.In the next decade, PMI may see 30 percent or more of its members enter-ing retirement.

The Australian Institute of ProjectManagement (AIPM) estimates one-third

of project managers in Australia willretire in the next decade. Nearly 50 per-cent of AIPM’s membership falls withinthe 40 to 54 year age group, and another 10percent who are in the 55 to 60 year brack-et face imminent retirement.

Because the profession is extremelyyoung (formally established in the

1960s), there is not enough awareness ofits importance among the growing gener-ation of students and workers.

Talent Gap May Put WorldEconomy At Risk The shortage of skilled project profes-sionals will affect global economy. The Anderson Economic Group studyestimates that by 2016, spending in projectized industries will increase by$4.5 trillion, and a large amount of this will be at risk due to the lack of

Continued on supplement page 4

3SUPPLEMENT PMI Today • June 2009

30% of PMImembershipto retire inthe nextdecade

Does Project Management Track the Economy?PMI has grown steadily through 40 years and 4 recessions. There is only a weak link between the growth of PMI (blue bars)

and the economy (red line). Gray bars are recessions.

4 SUPPLEMENT PMI Today • June 2009

cademic institutions thatdevelop project manage-ment programs in thenext decade will enjoy a

steady flow of students who willbe highly employable upon com-pletion of their courses. Theseinstitutions will also add facultyand enrich the intellectual fabricof their offerings.

By offering projectmanagement pro-grams, schools willdifferentiate them-selves from the com-petition and help mit-igate the risks to theworld’s economyposed by the alarming supply-demand crisis in the project man-agement profession.

Many organizations, especial-ly large corporations and govern-ment agencies, have seen thelooming crisis and taken it seri-ously enough to establish theirown in-house project manage-ment training programs or tosupport the growth of academicprograms in project management.

For example, the U.S. NationalAeronautics and Space Admini-stration has established theNASA Academy of Program/Project & Engineering Leader-ship, while Huawei TechnologiesCo. Ltd., Siemens, the BoeingCorporation, IBM and numerousother corporations have corporateuniversities. While these pro-grams often align with universitypartners for research and teach-ing needs, the necessity of their

creation also emphasizes the fact that academic offerings may be insufficient for organiza-tional needs.

Over the last several years,encouraged by the Chinese government, more than 103 engi-neering, construction and busi-ness schools in China have creat-ed master’s level programs inproject management. Projectmanagement is definitely emerg-ing as a growing academic discipline, as reported by PMI’s2008 global census of higher edu-cation institutions.

In 1994, there were only twobachelor’s and nine master’sdegree programs recognized inproject management globally.Today there are over 2,500 schoolsteaching nearly 5,000 courses inproject, program and portfoliomanagement around the world.

The 11 project managementdegree programs in 1997 havegrown to more than 600 such pro-grams and an additional 250 ormore certificate programs globally.

Project management-relatedpapers are now regularly pub-lished in the top 18 managementand business journals. The study,“Impact on Project Managementof Allied Disciplines: Trends andFuture of Project ManagementPractices and Research,” reportedthat four top management andbusiness journals (IEEE Trans-actions on Engineering Manage-ment, Management Science, LongRange Planning, and the HarvardBusiness Review) explored projectmanagement subjects in over 50 percent of the total papersthey published.

aEDUCATION

AND TRAININGto Bridge the Gap

skilled project managers.Anderson recently validated

the global project management tal-ent gap by looking at 10 globaleconomies: Australia, Brazil,Canada, China, Germany, India,Japan, Saudi Arabia, United ArabEmirates and the United

Kingdom. The economies wereselected for their potential growthof projects and demand for projectmanagement professionals.

The study identified 85 project-oriented occupations and 15 pro-jectized industries. It establishedthat the economic impact of not

filling 1.2 million new projectmanagement jobs a year globallyis significant. Of the $4.5 trillionincrease in project investment by2016, about $200 billion will be atrisk from project managementskills shortages.

Continued from supplement page 3

The Talent

Gap

niversity programs on proj-ect management are grow-ing in popularity as morestudents discover project

management, and as existing projectmanagement practitioners enhance

their careers with further trainingand education. These charts showthe growth in three programs accredited by the PMI® GlobalAccreditation Center for ProjectManagement (GAC):

More information on GAC-accredited programs can be found at www.PMI.org/accreditation.

o some project managementpractitioners, bridging the tal-ent gap means going to schoolfor advanced degrees in proj-

ect management. This is why theyare doing it (or did it recently), intheir own words:

Dianne O. Harris, MSM, completedher master’s of science in manage-ment—project management degreein 2005. At the time she was workingon a design project with CH2M Hill

at one of the largest wastewatertreatment plants in the world, nearWashington, D.C., USA. “If you aremoving toward leadership positions,a post graduate degree in projectmanagement is valuable if you haveproject experience,” said Ms. Harris.

Luis D. Argüello Araya, PMO direc-tor at Aura Interactiva (Costa Rica),is getting his master’s degree in proj-ect management this year. He took aproject management program spon-

sored by the Costa Rica Institute ofTechnology prior to starting his mas-ter’s degree program. He sought thedegree in order to have a solid back-ground on this field and also toimprove his professional profile.

Mr. Argüello expects some careerbenefits from his degree. “I will havesolid foundations to run the PMO ofthe company I work for,” he said.“I’m mostly oriented to manage ITand e-learning projects and I also have

Project Management Program Student Enrollment2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09

University of Maryland, United States 613 775 1048 1266Boston University, United States 276 669 1066 1642La Salle - Ramon Llull University, Spain 94 115 124 160

special office withinthe French Ministry ofBudget in charge of the‘modernization of the

state’ has been created recently,involving million to multi-billion[euro] projects and their manage-ment. Due to the need for project

managementtalent, the special officesigned a coop-eration agree-ment with ESCLille in March2009 in order todevelop inten-

sive collaboration. This will includethe recruitment of masters/MBA stu-dents, internship offers to currentstudents, training of the workforceand of the project managers, consult-ing and research work at various lev-

els (masters, MBA and PhD)…”—Christophe Bredillet, PhD

Director of International PostgraduateProgrammes, ESC Lille, France

“In times like these it’s more thanever crucial for a company to man-age their resources with maximumefficiency. This requires a far moreproject-oriented company structurewith clearly assigned responsibilities.It’s obvious that more highly quali-fied project managers are required—our university makes an importantcontribution to cover this need byoffering a GAC-accredited master’sdegree in systems and project man-agement for young business profes-sionals.”

—Professor Dr. Thomas K. StauffertUniversity of Applied Sciences at

Landshut, Germany

“In today’s complex global environ-ment, the most successful projectmanagers will be those who gobeyond the primary tools and tech-

niques of thetrade to applycritical thinkingin reachingsolutions thatare consistentwith organiza-tional strategicgoals andobjectives.

Formal education locking hard andsoft skills together with general man-agement principles will be a must.”

—Frank J. Cesario, PhD, PMPProgram Dean

DeVry University and Keller GraduateSchool of Management

5SUPPLEMENT PMI Today • June 2009

u

t

ADVANCED DEGREES: One Way to Meet the Need

“aWhat the Faculty and Deans are Saying

What Students Getting Advanced Degrees Are Saying

Continued on supplement page 6

availability to travel or to manageprojects in a remote way.”

The president of his company,who is also his direct supervisor,encouraged Mr. Argüello to get hisdegree. He recommends othersinterested in career growth to con-sider getting an advanced degree.

“Having a solid backgroundin project management can opena lot of doors and you can get abroader vision of the business ofa company,” he said.

Leonardo Abeles, MPM, PMP,has a master’s degree in projectmanagement from La SalleBusiness School in Barcelona,

Spain, and inJune, he willfinish anadvancedmaster cer-tificate inproject man-agementfrom the

ESI Institute and GeorgeWashington University. Hebelieves project managers are“born” (with leadership attrib-utes) as well as “made” (with theproper formal education).

He has seen project managersappointed on the basis of techni-cal expertise alone, and notes thatthe results of unprepared projectmanagers are projects that arebehind schedule and over budg-et, with unsatisfied stakeholders.

“I can say that the master’sdegree in project managementand the PMP certification changedmy life and made me a fulfilledperson from the professionalpoint of view,” said Mr. Abeles.

Shortly after obtaining hisdegree and PMP credential, Mr.Abeles was asked to join La SalleUniversity to teach project man-agement courses to master’sdegree students. After a year hewas offered a senior project man-ager position at Acision in theNetherlands. At Acision, he isleading the process to build a

project management office in thebusiness unit department.

Mr. Abeles’ career visionincludes being an executive direc-tor responsible for all projects,program and portfolio manage-ment in the company, setting theguidelines for the correct perfor-mance of projects in the company,and establishing the basis fortransforming Acision into one ofthe world’s leading companies inthe way projects are carried out.

He also sees himself as a men-tor, teacher and high-level consult-ant in the project managementprofession in the near future. Andhe may study for his PhD.

“Project management is a pro-fession like every other profes-sion,” said Mr. Abeles. “By per-forming project management in anon-professional way, you cancause a lot of financial damage toyour company, cause image dam-age, and spoil the relations withcustomers and other stakeholdersfor a long time. Having the righteducation and accreditation inproject management will [enableyou] to avoid most of the pre-dictable pitfalls. Since projectmanagement is a mixture of sci-ence and art, success will never beguaranteed 100 percent, but byfollowing a formal educationalpath you will be able to narrowthe chance for failure, and extendthe path and chances for success.”

Warren Glore, senior test engineer,Legacy Solutions Group—SpecialProjects, said career growth to him

meant seeingthe big pic-ture on projects. “I have beeninvolved inprojectsalmost allmy adult

life, including 22 years in the U.S.Air Force and almost 10 yearsworking for LSI Corporation,” hesaid. “In every project I have beeninvolved in, I have only had con-trol over a very small piece of the

project. My motivation [for seek-ing a master’s degree in projectmanagement] comes from the factthat I would like to have a biggerpiece of that pie. I want to be ableto see a project from its inceptionto its conclusion.”

Mr. Glore will graduate inAugust with a master’s degree ininformation technology in projectmanagement from the Universityof Maryland. He recommendsothers seek advanced projectmanagement degrees.

“There is something abouttaking the classes and theresearch that is included thatrounds a degree candidate out,”he said. “I have done enoughresearch to know how to findinformation if I need it. This isone area that non-higher degreecandidates miss out on.”

Oula Ahmad is involved in anMBA program specializing inproject management.

“When Iselected thisfield as myprofession,my mainfocus washow toexpand myeducation

and provide effective services,”she said. “Being a successful proj-ect manager needs a lot of effortand patience…. Building andimproving my skills will benefitme in my long-termcareer pathand give me the ability to providethe right services in the right time.”

Ms. Ahmed was born andraised in Dubai, United ArabEmirates.

“I sensed the importance ofproject management and its strategies of building businessesbetween the east and the west,”she said. “This category is veryimportant for leaders to under-stand, and to be an interna-tional project manager you musthave a long-term vision for long-term benefits.”

6 SUPPLEMENT PMI Today • June 2009

Continued from supplement page 5The Talent

Gap

he PMI Educational Foundation is helping to bridge the talent gapby using donations to deliver programs that will empower

the future of project management. The Foundation isexpanding educationalopportunities for futureproject managementpractitioners by: ■ Helping primary and

secondary school students becomesuccessful in life by learning throughprojects;

■ Helping secondary school studentslearn about project management as acareer option and life skill;

■ Helping teachers learn about projectmanagement and project-based learn-ing for their professional develop-ment; and

■ Helping students realize their dreamsby funding more and greater-valueacademic scholarships.

Primary and SecondarySchool and CommunityPrograms PMIEF is implementing and expandingproject management and project-based

learning programs in primary and sec-ondary schools and community-basedorganizations around the world. TheFoundation is working to build partner-ships with organizations that share asimilar vision of helping childrenbecome successful in a worldwhere the best employ-ers are looking for creative andinnovative stu-dents who havebeen preparedby learning

21st century skills, which include project management.

The Foundation is also buildingresources that are available to PMImembers, PMI communities and organi-zations so they can reach out to theircommunities and schools to introduce,teach and promote project managementas a life skill.

The following materials can bedownloaded at no cost from PMIEF.org:

PMI Educational Foundation Helps to Fill the Talent Gap

Registered Education Providers Also Show Growthraining programs in PMI’sRegistered Education Provider(R.E.P.) program provide a majorpart of the courses and training

within the project management profes-sion all over the world.

The R.E.P. program, now 10 yearsold, has grown from a system to identi-fy trainers who could prepare practi-tioners for the PMP® examination andhelp them maintain their credentials to a program that nowserves the diverse trainingneeds of organizationsand individuals. The pro-gram educates more than800,000 students a year inboth online and face-to-face courses. There areover 1,100 trainingproviders in 60 countriesaround the world and

more than 5,000 coursesavailable.

A database on PMI.orgsimplifies matching train-ing and courses to theneeds of practitioners, and an onlinerequest for proposal program helpsorganizations obtain training and professional development programsthat will help them with their own talent gaps.

R.E.P.s provided an averageof 30 hours of training perstudent, for a staggering totalof 24 million training hoursper year! Although 2008 sta-

tistics were not available at press timefor this supplement, the vast majority ofR.E.P.s expect to increase the volume oftraining they deliver by 25-30 percentover the previous year.

Sixty-one percent of R.E.P.s are“global providers,” which means theyoffer multiple courses to the public.Universities and organizations’ internaltraining departments can also be R.E.P.s.All R.E.P.s are reviewed and audited toassure the best quality training. To find a course offered by a R.E.P., usethe convenient database located atwww.pmi.org/CareerDevelopment/Pages/Find-a-Registered-Education-Provider.aspx.

t

tPMI Educational Foundation

R.E.P.s provided an average of 30 hours oftraining per student, fora staggering total of 24million training hoursper year!

Continued on supplement page 8

7SUPPLEMENT PMI Today • June 2009

■ Project Management Skills for Life: www.pmi.org/pmief/learningzone/Com-lifeskills.asp

■ Careers in Project Management:www.pmi.org/pmief/learn-ingzone/careers.asp

■ Project Management Curriculumfor Primary and SecondarySchool Grades: www.pmi.org/pmief/learningzone/pmcurricula.asp

PMIEF Scholarship andAwards ProgramIn 2009, over $150,000 in scholar-ships and awards are being madeavailable to graduate and under-graduate students who are study-ing project management andrelated fields. The program bene-fits PMI members, their familiesand others by helping tomor-row’s project management prac-titioners complete their studies.

Donors to the PMIEF scholar-ship program include PMI chap-ters, specific interest groups andcolleges, along with organiza-tions that provide products, serv-

ices and solutions for the projectmanagement community.

PMIEF handles scholarshipadministration duties suchas marketing, websitemaintenance, applicationprocessing and awarddistribution. Scholarshiprecipients are selectedby a team of PMIEFvolunteers followingan established processand using a set of criteria establishedby PMIEF and eachdonor. Communi-ties and others that fund scholar-ships through PMIEF are freed ofthose administrative tasks.

PMI members are encouragedto spread the word about thePMIEF scholarship program.Scholarship eligibility guidelinesand deadlines are provided onPMIEF.org. One application sub-mitted online can be used toapply for multiple scholarships.

Primary and secondary

school teachers can learn about project management at no cost through Project Manage-ment Training Fellowships forPrimary and Secondary SchoolEducators, downloadable fromwww.pmi.org/pmief/learningzone/TF-Overview.asp.

8 SUPPLEMENT PMI Today • June 2009

Project Management Institute Educational Foundation (PMIEF) is a U.S. 501(c)(3) non-for-profit charitable organization registered in the U.S. District of Columbia and all U.S. states that require charities to do so. For those filing a U.S. income tax return, donations are tax-deductible. For additional information, please visit www.pmief.org or e-mail pmief@pmi.org.

PMI Educational Foundation

(Please ✓one)❑ Make a gift to the scholarship fund. Help university

students realize their dream through education.Or

❑ Make a gift in support of youth programs. Help educate primary and secondary school students aboutproject management.

To make a gift please complete the coupon below and mail it, along with payment, to:

PMI Educational Foundation For additional information: 14 Campus Blvd. +1 610 356 4600 ext. 7117 Newtown Square, PA 19073 USA pmief@pmi.org

Gift Amount US$ ________ Payment Options: ❑ Check Enclosed ❑ Mastercard ❑ AmEx ❑ Visa ❑ Discover

Name_________________________________________ Card Number ________________________________________________

Address ______________________________________ Expiration Date ______________ Card Security Code (CSC) ________

______________________________________________ Signature ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Phone_________________________________________ E-mail ____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Continued from supplement page 7

hrough the generous supportof people just like you, thePMI Educational Founda-tion’s programs continue to

grow each year. You can help us bridge the talent

gap by joining these very generousdonors and help build a better futurefor others by making a gift today. Yourgenerosity could help a student affordcollege, give a child an improvedchance at success through project-based learning, or help a not-for-profitorganization more quickly and effi-ciently respond to a disaster. Pleaseuse the coupon at left and give today.

For additional information aboutthe PMIEF and how you can beinvolved, please contact DianeFromm, PMIEF administrator, atdiane.fromm@pmi.org, or visitPMIEF.org.

tGet Involved and Make a Difference

HELP BRIDGE THE

TALENT GAP!

The Talent

Gap