SYDNEY Australia must train thousands of extra information technology specialists to plug a 5.3 billion ($2.76 billion) hole in national earnings, a study published on Tuesday said.

The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) said the information technology (IT) and communications sector already contributed 1.3 percent to labor productivity and employed 200,000 people here, AFP reported.

But Australia was forced to import goods to meet demand, running up a trade deficit of about seven billion U.S. dollars in the process, the association said.

Research published Tuesday by the AIIA showed that if present trends continued, a shortage of 27,500 IT graduates would open up over the next five years.

The shortage would occur despite a recent federal government commitment to fund 21,000 extra training and study positions.

The association warned that failure to provide a further 5,500 places annually in addition to the 27,500 already announced will force Australian IT companies offshore.

"The key issue is if we don't make this investment, companies are not going to find people here to do the work and they will go offshore," the association's Executive Director, Rob Durie, said.