Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the impending IT skills crisis is that fundamental economic and psychological principles suggest there should not be a problem.

In theory, laws of supply and demand mean that as firms fight over a diminishing pool of talent salaries rise, attracting people into the industry. It is how capitalism (kind of) works and why I’m considering becoming a plumber.

Equally, with many top global brands and four of the planet’s five richest men coming from the IT sector, you would expect its status as the world’s most influential industry to guarantee a stampede of bright young things battling each other for IT jobs.

It was the philosopher Nietzsche who first argued mankind had an inherent will to power but while his theory explains the steady supply of entrants for almost every other sphere of influence, technology remains an anomaly. Young people look at the power held by IT’s glitterati and think, “No thanks.”

It is difficult to say why the IT sector is defying these rules. Why, when salaries are set to increase, is the number of technology graduates flatlining? Why, when lists of the world’s most influential businessmen are dominated by technologists, does Cisco estimate there will soon be a shortfall of 40,000 people in the UK networking field?

The answers to these questions lie with one man – and that man is Bill Gates’ barber.

It is IT’s dirty secret that the reason for the looming skills crisis is that it remains a deeply unfashionable industry. The sector’s geeky image is the only explanation why the stream of IT graduates in Western societies has slowed to a trickle.

The problem is so serious it has rewritten supposedly immutable social laws and there are no signs the situation is improving. Optimists argue that with the younger generation carrying in their pockets technological riches that would make Croesus blush, interest in IT will evolve naturally. But while some teenagers may spend hours downloading unsavoury images onto their 3G phones, far fewer spend hours analysing the coding that makes it work.

Others argue that globalisation means other countries will plug the skills gap. But this does little for UK competitiveness and ignores warnings from Indian IT trade body Nasscom that it too could face a shortfall of half a million IT staff by 2010.

Faced with these problems, government schemes, such as its Computer Club for Girls, will enjoy little success unless the whole industry undertakes an image makeover.

This will be extremely tough because IT necessarily requires commitment and attention to detail that is easy to caricature as the heights of anally-retentive geekdom. But unless the industry challenges the perceived negatives and proclaims that IT is not only at the cutting edge of the new economy but is also a source of financially lucrative, intellectually rewarding and socially influential careers, then the skills crisis will only deepen.