  As Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen famously remarked in 2011, software is
eating the world - becoming a pervasive invisible critical infrastructure. Data
on the distribution of software use and development in society is scarce, but
we compile results from two novel surveys to provide a fuller picture of the
role software plays in the public and private sectors in Sweden, respectively.
Three out of ten Swedish firms, across industry sectors, develop software
in-house. The corresponding figure for Sweden's government agencies is four out
of ten, i.e., the public sector should not be underestimated. The
digitalization of society will continue, thus the demand for software
developers will further increase. Many private firms report that the limited
supply of software developers in Sweden is directly affecting their expansion
plans. Based on our findings, we outline directions that need additional
research to allow evidence-informed policy-making. We argue that such work
should ideally be conducted by academic researchers and national statistics
agencies in collaboration.
