If in 2018 there were about 62 thousand so-called "fleeing brains" who left Italy to move abroad, on the other hand, 598 thousand young people between the ages of 18 and 24 abandoned school early, risking ending up on the margins of our society.
To say it is the CGIA Studies Office which with its coordinator, Paolo Zabeo, says:
"Given that losing over 60 young high school graduates every year constitutes a serious cultural impoverishment for our country, it is even more alarming that almost 600 young people decide to leave their studies early. A number, the latter, 10 times higher than the former. A problem, that of the out-of-school people, which we are guilty of underestimating, given that in the next few years, also as a result of the ongoing denatality, companies risk not being able to count on new workers sufficiently professionally trained. A problem that is already beginning to be felt in many production areas, especially in the North ".
Although in recent years there has been a contraction of the phenomenon, a large number of young people continue to leave school prematurely, including compulsory education, contributing to increase youth unemployment, the risk of poverty and social exclusion. In fact, a person who does not have a minimum level of education is generally destined for a lifetime to a disqualified job, often precarious and with a very low remuneration level, compared to what he could aspire, at least potentially, if he had a title of medium-high study.
“Moreover - points out the CGIA secretary Renato Mason - a country that aspires to be modern, as well as being able to count on the use of advanced technologies, it is equally important that it can make use of a qualified workforce. Otherwise, there is the danger of a general impoverishment of the country system and, equally worryingly, of a marginalization of many subjects who can hardly be actively reintegrated into our society. In fact, all the experts agree that educational poverty and economic poverty are closely related ".
The causes of early school leaving are mainly cultural, social and economic: children who come from socially disadvantaged backgrounds and from families with a low level of education are more likely to drop out of school before completing their studies. There is also a gender factor: more boys than girls drop out of school early.
- Italy in third place in the EU for early school leaving
Although the escape from school desks is declining across Europe, in 2018 Italy ranks third among the 19 euro area countries for school dropout among young people aged between 18 and 24. While the percentage was 14,5 per cent (equal to approximately 598 thousand young people), only Malta (17,4 per cent) and Spain (17,9 per cent) have worse results than ours. The EU average stands at 11 percent. Between 2008 and 2018, the contraction of the phenomenon in Italy fell by 5,1 percent, almost in line with the EU average (-5,3 percent).
- In the South, almost 1 in 5 children leave school early
At the Italian territorial level, the southern regions have the highest levels of early school leaving. In 2018 in Sardinia 23 percent of young people left school before graduation (professional diploma, high school diploma, etc.). Sicily follows with 22,1 percent and Calabria with 20,3 percent. The situation in the latter region is worrying, compared to almost all the others compared to the figure for 2008: school drop-out in the last 10 years has increased by 1,8 percent. Trentino Alto Adige and Friuli Venezia Giulia (both with 8,9 percent), Abruzzo (8,8 percent) and Umbria (8,4 percent) are the most virtuous regions.
Overall, the Northeast is the area that suffers less from this phenomenon both due to the percentage incidence of early school leaving (10,6 percent) and the lower number of premature "exits".
- Worrying signs also for businesses
According to the surveys conducted by Unioncamere and Anpal, over 1 million jobs would have been difficult to find in 2018 due to the misalignment between demand and supply of work; although in Italy youth unemployment exceeds 25 per cent and businesses report many difficulties in finding staff, especially with digital skills.
The causes are manifold but, according to the CGIA Studies Office, it should not be forgotten that a strong polarization of the labor market is taking place in all European countries. In fact, companies, on the one hand, seek with ever greater insistence of personnel with high technical-professional specialization (electrical engineers, analysts and software designers, electrical engineers, electronic technicians, installers, maintainers, electric welding specialists, repairers of IT equipment , etc.), on the other they also need figures characterized by low levels of skills and specialization.
All this, linked to the demographic decline and the difficulties of making the world of school interact with that of work, has made it very difficult for companies to find many high-profile professionals and on the other hand the coverage of the hardest and most tiring jobs. from a physical point of view it was guaranteed, at least in part, thanks to the availability of immigrants.
Now, if the number of out-of-school students is not destined to drastically decrease, in the coming years it will be increasingly difficult for companies to find qualified personnel, also because the number of young people who will enter the job market is decreasing due to the demographic decline .