1,7 million micro enterprises at risk of default

Four out of 10 micro enterprises, which in absolute terms we estimate in just under 1,7 million activities, risk closure due to the economic crisis caused by the health emergency which has exploded in recent months.

To say it is the CGIA after learning the results of the last monthly note published by Istat on the trend of the Italian economy. The Institute, in fact, carried out a survey on a representative sample of Italian companies of different sizes, from which it emerged that the micro business realities are, among all, those most in difficulty 1.

"We refer - begins the coordinator of the Studies Office Paolo Zabeo - to that productive middle class made up of service companies, shopkeepers, artisan shops and VAT numbers with less than 10 employees who have never recovered after the lockdown and, now, have expressed their intention to permanently close the gate. The sectors most vulnerable to the crisis that emerged from this survey were bars, restaurants, hospitality businesses, small businesses, the culture and entertainment sector. In production - concludes Zabeo - the difficulties have mainly affected the furniture, wood, paper and printing sectors, as well as textiles, clothing and footwear. With little liquidity available and the collapse of household consumption, the balance sheets of these micro-activities have turned red. A situation considered irreversible that is inducing many small entrepreneurs to definitively throw in the towel ”.

“The economic effects of COVID - underlines the secretary of the CGIA Renato Mason - are superimposed on a general situation that had already deeply deteriorated. I remember that between 2009 and 2019 the total stock of artisan companies present in Italy fell by almost 180.000 units 2. About 60 percent of the contraction involved activities related to the home sector: construction, tinsmiths, installers, painters, electricians, plumbers, etc. they have lived through difficult years and many have been forced out of business. The housing crisis and the vertical drop in household consumption were lethal. Of course, many other artisan professions, especially related to the world of design, the web, and communication, are becoming established. Unfortunately, the profound transformations underway and the dramatic crisis that we will experience in the coming months will cancel many activities that will change the face of our cities, also negatively affecting the social cohesion of the country ".

The CGIA returns to ask that with the August decree, the most fragile micro-commercial and productive realities in the health emergency are helped to stay alive. Like ? Firstly, through a further and more robust disbursement of grants; secondly, with the cancellation of the fiscal deadlines, at least until the end of this year.

Unfortunately, the forecasts do not suggest anything good. From the CGIA they recall that in 2009, the horribilis year of the Italian economy of the past 75 years, the national GDP fell by 5,5 per cent, while the unemployment rate in 2 years rose from 6 to 12 per one hundred. With a GDP that in the brightest forecasts this year is expected to decrease by 10 percent, almost double the contraction recorded in 2009, the danger that the number of unemployed increases exponentially is very high.

The closure due to the crisis of many small businesses also has equally negative social repercussions.

When the gate closes definitively, a small shop or artisan shop loses knowledge and know-how that is difficult to recover and the quality of life in that neighborhood deteriorates visibly. Also, there is no socialization point, there is less security, more degradation and the quality of life of that place worsens.

In addition to giving liquidity, cutting taxes and easing bureaucracy, manual labor must also be reevaluated. Over the past 40 years there has been a cultural devaluation that has been frightening. Through the school reforms that have taken place in recent years and, above all, with the new Consolidated Law on apprenticeship, some important steps have been taken in any case. But that's not enough. It is necessary to make a real revolution to restore dignity, social value and fair economic recognition to all those professions where knowing how to do it with one's own hands is an additional virtue that we are guilty of losing.

We cannot hide, however, that despite the crisis there is a great paradox to which we cannot find a solution. While many micro businesses are closing, many sectors, at least until recently, denounced the difficulty in finding qualified personnel. There are realities where until last February it was difficult to hire drivers of heavy vehicles, drivers of numerically controlled machines, turners, millers, painters and sheet metal workers. Not to mention that in the world of construction it is increasingly difficult to find carpenters, installers and tinsmiths.

1,7 million micro enterprises at risk of default