At least 7 billion euros. The estimate of the loss of turnover that artisan businesses will suffer in this closing month due to the Coronavirus (from March 12 to April 13, 2020) amounts to a lot. To make the accounts was the CGIA Studies Office.
The sectors most affected are also the most representative of the whole sector: construction, for example, will see a drop in turnover of 3,2 billion (construction, painters, finishers of buildings, etc.) and manufacturing of 2,8 billion ( metalworking, wood, chemical, plastic, textile-clothing, footwear, etc.) and personal services of 650 million euros (hairdressers, beauticians, shoemakers, etc.) - the estimate of the loss of turnover was built starting from the turnover of each ATECO sector, calculating the loss of turnover on the basis of the closing days of each activity from 12 March to 13 April 2020.
“Craftsmanship is at risk of becoming extinct, or almost, especially in small towns and in peripheral countries, many activities - reports the coordinator of the Studies Office Paolo Zabeo - in the face of the cancellation of collections, unsustainable rents and a excessive tax burden, they will not bear the blow and will be forced to close. If the situation does not improve by the end of next May, it is likely that by this year the total number of artisan companies will drop by at least 300 thousand units: that is to say that 25 percent of the artisan companies present in Italy will close their doors. "
A situation, the one that craftsmanship is experiencing in these weeks, very difficult that overlaps with an equally heavy general framework that in the last 10 years has seen the number of companies present in this sector collapse. Between 2009 and 2019, in fact, the craft companies that closed definitively were just under 180 thousand (to be precise 178.664), equal to -12,2 percent. If in 2009 the stock was equal to 1.465.949, as of December 31 of last year the number dropped to 1.287.285. The region that suffered the highest drop was Sardinia (-19 percent).
“Almost 60 percent of the contraction of craft businesses recorded in the last 10 years - notes the secretary Renato Mason - concerns activities related to the home sector. Builders, tinsmiths, installers, painters, electricians, plumbers, etc. they have lived through difficult years and many have been forced to throw in the towel. The crisis in the sector and the vertical drop in household consumption have been lethal. Of course, many other artisan professions, especially related to the world of design, the web, communication, are emerging. Unfortunately, the profound changes taking place and the dramatic crisis that we will experience in the coming months will cancel many professions that have characterized the history of craftsmanship and the life of many neighborhoods and cities ".
Old endangered crafts
In the face of the difficulties that will certainly intensify in the coming months, the CGIA has listed 25 old craftsmen who, already in strong agony, risk disappearing definitively from our cities and country towns, or professions that are endangered due to of the profound technological transformations taking place. They are:
- Grinder (grinder or blade sharpener);
- Barber (in charge of cutting hair on men and shaving beards);
- Shoemaker (repairer of soles, heels, bags and belts);
- Cheesemaker (employee in the processing, preparation and storage of dairy products);
- Canestraio (manufacturer of baskets, baskets, baskets, etc.);
- Castrino (typical craft figure of the sharecropping world with the task of castrating animals);
- Ceraio (manufacturer of torches, candles and candles with the use of wax);
- Cocciaio (manufacturer of plates, bowls and vases);
- Rope maker (manufacturer of ropes, ropes and twine);
- framer;
- Photographer;
- Glover (manufacturer and repairer of gloves);
- Bookbinder (bookbinder);
- Norcino (pig slaughtering and meat processing worker);
- Mattress (the one who manufactures or renews mattresses, quilts, pillows, etc.);
- Miller (grain and grain grinder);
- Farrier (assigned to shoeing horses, donkeys and mules);
- Umbrella maker (repairer / patcher of broken umbrellas);
- Embroiderer (decorator of the fabric with ornamental motifs);
- Tailor (one or one who makes men's or women's clothes);
- Selciatore (in charge of laying porphyry cubes);
- Saddler (manufacturer of saddles for animals);
- Scopettaio (manufacturer of brushes and brooms);
- Stonemason (the one who roughs and works the stone or marble with the chisel);
- Chair (manufacturer or repairer of straw chairs).
COVID 19 forced 6 out of 10 craftsmen to close
Returning to the closures imposed by the law in the last 2 weeks due to COVID 19, 752.897 craft businesses have been forced to suspend the activity (equal to 58,5 percent of the total); the account rises to 799.462 if we also consider the activities for which the possibility of making only takeaway administration is envisaged. At the regional level, peaks of 65,6 percent were recorded in Tuscany, 63,9 percent in Valle d'Aosta and 61,1 percent in Umbria. The least affected by the closure were Basilicata (52,9 percent), Calabria (52,5 percent) and finally Sicily (48,9 percent).
In the South there are fewer and fewer craftsmen
On a territorial level, the Mezzogiorno is the macro area where the fall was greatest. Between 2009 and 2019 in Sardinia the decrease in the number of active craft businesses was 19 percent (-8.092). Abruzzo follows with a contraction of 18,8 percent (-6.788), Umbria, which in any case is attributable to the geographical distribution of the Center, with -16,2 percent (-3.945), Molise with 16,1, 1.230 percent (-15,9) and Sicily with -13.486 percent, which has lost XNUMX businesses.
