Human resources employed in science and technology occupations

Human resources employed in science and technology occupations (HRSTO) constitute a pool of employees who participate actively in the development of S&T activities and technological innovation. In the EU, almost 59 million persons were HRSTO in 2006. This accounted for almost one third of the total employed population. Most of the HRSTO were technicians and gender parity was achieved as 51% of the human resources employed in an S&T occupation were female. In Lithuania 72% were female. One third of the HRSTO in Sweden were found in the age group 50-64. Furthermore, the HRSTO has grown most in Spain and Luxembourg in the last five years. The highest share of HRSTO was found in the education sector of economic activity closely followed by the health and social work sector.