Skip to main content

Global Mobile Worker Population

Today's businesses are recognizing the growing importance of the mobile worker, who is perhaps one of the more strategic employees of an organization, and that job functionality can be enhanced by mobility for a significant portion of the workforce. As organizations continue to implement mobile solutions, IDC expects the mobile worker population to increase from more than 650 million worldwide in 2004, to more than 850 million in 2009, representing more than one-quarter of the global workforce.

Since 1999, IDC has been forecasting the mobile worker population across a variety of regions and at a country level. This study presents, for the first time, a worldwide view in five regions. Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) currently has the largest number of mobile workers, followed by the United States and Western Europe.

The United States had the highest percentage of mobile workers in its workforce in 2004, and is expected to reach over 70 percent mobile workforce penetration by the end of the forecast period, thereby making the U.S. the most mobile-enabled workforce across the five regions. IDC segments the mobile worker population into three core categories; office-based mobile workers, non-office-based mobile workers, and home-based mobile workers.

Popular posts from this blog

The AI Application Integration Challenge

Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly become the defining force in business technology development, but integrating AI into applications remains a formidable challenge. According to a recent Gartner survey, 77 percent of engineering leaders identify AI integration in apps as a major hurdle for their organizations. As demand for AI-powered solutions accelerates across every industry, understanding the tools, the barriers, and the opportunities is essential for business and technology leaders seeking to evolve. The Gartner survey highlights a key trend: while AI’s potential is widely recognized, the path to useful integration is anything but straightforward. IT leaders cite complexities in embedding AI models into existing software, managing data pipelines, ensuring security, and maintaining compliance as persistent obstacles. These challenges are compounded by a shortage of skilled AI engineers and the rapid evolution of AI technologies, which can outpace organizational readiness and...