The paradoxes present in our labor market are evident and one of these is highlighted in this note from the CGIA Research Office: if the unemployed in Italy are just under two million, of which approximately 800 thousand are between the ages of 15 and 34 years [Istat, “Employed and unemployed”, Rome, 2 October 2023], according to our Minister of Labor [Marina Elvira Calderone, speech at the Confcommercio Forum entitled: "The protagonists of the market and the scenarios for the 2000s", Rome, 19 April 2023], however, there would be a million places that companies cannot find.
Let's be clear, this is nothing new; in our country supply and demand have always struggled to meet each other. Not only. Those looking for a job often have a significant educational and experiential deficit compared to the professional skills required by economic activities.
Having said this, the fact remains that we still have many people, especially young people, without a job, while many companies, even in the South, are forced to give up a significant share of orders, as they do not have sufficient human resources to deal with these new orders. The result of this situation gives us a worrying picture: many families continue to remain in conditions of economic fragility and just as many businesses, unable to increase production activity, cannot grow in size and create new wealth to distribute.
Welders, doctors, engineers, plasterers are nowhere to be found
Thanks to the data emerging from the periodic Excelsior survey conducted among Italian entrepreneurs by Unioncamere-Anpal, the CGIA research office has listed the first 50 difficult to find professional figures. Virtually impossible to find are electric arc welders, general practitioners, electronics/telecommunications engineers, plasterers (which also include plasterers, decorators and plasterboarders) and company managers (of private schools and private healthcare facilities ). Of this first block, in 8 out of 10 cases the search for entrepreneurs (private and public) turns into failure.
Equally difficult to find on the job market are test mechanics, nurses/midwives, electronic technicians (hardware installer and maintainer), upholsterers and mattress makers, workers employed on spinning and winding machinery, welders and flame cutters. , electronic engineers, electrical technicians and workers employed on mechanical looms for weaving and knitting. Of this second block, in 7 out of 10 cases the entrepreneurial requests remain uncovered.
In the Northeast, almost one job in two remains unfilled.
If in the North they are mainly looking for waiters, shop assistants and cleaners, in the South the demand is concentrated on bricklayers and, here too, on waiters and shop assistants.
Among the four geographical divisions of the country, however, the greatest difficulties in finding employees emerged in the Northeast. In fact, in Bolzano, the highest percentage incidence of 2022 percent was recorded in 52,5. Followed by Pordenone with 52 percent, Gorizia with 48,8, Pavia with 48,3, Trento with 47,9, Udine with 47,8, Bologna and Vicenza with 47,7, Lecco with 46,9, 46,8 and Padua with 15. Although the level of unemployment in the southern regions averages around 3 percent, even in this division one in three new jobs risked not being filled. The highest peaks, however, can be seen in Chieti and L'Aquila with 43,6 percent, in Caltanissetta with 40,5 percent, Cagliari with 39,2 percent, Brindisi and Sassari with 39, Syracuse with 38,8 .38,5, Isernia, Matera and Pescara with 38,1, Benevento with XNUMX and then all the others.
Since 2017, hiring difficulties have more than doubled
Analyzing the percentage incidence of procurement difficulties, from 2017 to today (September 2023) it has more than doubled. If six years ago only 21,5 percent of the entrepreneurs interviewed declared that they were struggling a lot to find new staff, in last month's survey the percentage rose to 47,6 percent.
It is clear that the trend is destined to rise further in the coming years. The combination of the decline in the birth rate and the progressive increase in the average age should create quite a few problems for entrepreneurs who, among other things, will be called upon to replace a large number of workers due for retirement.