European e-skills Week 2010 has commenced and aims to highlight the important skills required by IT workers on the continent.

In an attempt to boost electronic and digital literacy, the EU has organised over 200 events across 35 countries to help people share experiences and build links with businesses and each other.

Improving such skills will have a big impact on economic recovery, the EU said - and there are now nearly four million ICT professionals working in European sectors such as finance, banking, graphic arts and motoring.

Demand for these employees is growing and the number currently active is double that recorded 15 years ago, statistics show.

However, more needs to be done to ensure the continent has the resources it needs to grow, explained commissioner for education, culture, multilingualism and youth Androulla Vassiliou, commissioner for the digital agenda Neelie Kroes and vice-president Antonio Tajani.

"Digital literacy and media literacy are crucial components of digital inclusion - people should be able to use computers and the internet, while understanding how the web actually works and how to assess the online information," they added in a joint statement.

The e-skills Week schedule officially started yesterday (March 2nd) with a conference at the CeBIT event in Hannover.