On average fifty percent of Europe´s employees by profession work with computers. With 56% in Germany the frequency of computer work is above EU average and ranks seventh in Europe. These figures were published on Moday by the German Association of Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) and are based on data provided by the European Statistical Office Eurostat.
However, there are not only more computers in companies, but many work place computers are also connected to the internet. Over the past two years the percentage of employees who may go online with their computers has increased to about 40% percent. The EU average for 2006 was 36%.
Whereas German companies score well in terms of computer and internet equipment, there is still quite a big backlog on the part of German schools. According to a study by the EU Commission, in Germany there is one computer for each eleven pupils. Thus, Germany is far behind in place 18th, even behing Zyprus, Malta, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Top are Denmark and Norway. The equipment with fast internet access of German schools is mediocre. Only 63% of schools have wide band access so that German pupils rank 20th in this respect. 