13,000 fewer jobs than forecast a year ago (-2.7%) Accommodation, catering, tourism, and personal services bucked the trend
Companies expect to hire 479,000 people in March (3 out of 10 young people) and over 1.5 million in the March-May quarter. Compared to the forecasts for March 2025, there is a decrease of 13,000 (-2.7%) and 25,000 compared to the same quarter of 2025 (-1.6%). At the sectoral level, the decline affects almost all sectors, with the exception of accommodation, catering, and tourism services (+3.5% in the month and +3.2% in the quarter) and personal services (+1.7% in the month and +1.1% in the quarter). On the other hand, forecasts for the primary sector are down (-2.6% in the month and -1.0% in the quarter), manufacturing (-6.0% in the month and -5.1% in the quarter), construction – albeit with a limited reduction (-0.4% in the month and -0.3% in the quarter) – and trade (-6.8% in the month and -4.9% in the quarter). For 27% of the expected hires, companies indicate a preference for candidates under the age of 30. This scenario is outlined in the Excelsior Information System Bulletin, produced by Unioncamere and the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, which processes employment forecasts for the month of March. [1]
The primary sector expects to hire 35,000 workers in March and 119,000 in the quarter. Opportunities are mainly concentrated in tree cultivation (13,000 in the month and 46,000 in the quarter) and field cultivation (11,000 in the month and 39,000 in the quarter).
Industry as a whole expects around 127,000 contracts in March and almost 374,000 in the March-May quarter. Manufacturing plans to hire 77,000 new employees in March and 228,000 in the quarter: the greatest opportunities come from the mechanical and electronic industries (19,000 new hires in March and 55,000 in the quarter), followed by the metallurgical industries (approximately 15,000 in March and 42,000 in the quarter) and the food industries (12,000 in March and 39,000 in the quarter). The construction sector expects around 50,000 contracts in March and 145,000 by May.
In services, over 317,000 contracts are planned for the month and over 1 million for the quarter. The accommodation, catering, and tourism services sector offers the most opportunities, with around 97,000 new hires in March and over 347,000 in the quarter, followed by commerce (63,000 in the month and 194,000 in the quarter) and personal services (50,000 in the month and 159,000 in the quarter).
In March, fixed-term contracts continued to prevail, accounting for 59.9% of new hires (approximately 287,000), followed by permanent contracts (91,000; 19.0%) and temporary contracts (35,000; 7.4%).
45.3% of planned revenue is difficult to obtain. The main reason given by companies is the lack of candidates (27.5%), followed by the lack of adequate skills (14.0%). The difficulties are greatest in the construction (62.7% of profiles sought), metallurgy (61.0%), and wood-furniture (57.2%) sectors.
Among the most difficult positions to fill, the Borsino delle professioni (Job Market) reports the following highly specialized and technical profiles: health technicians (66.5%), process management technicians (64.7%), engineering technicians (61.4%), and engineers (58.6%). In the commercial and service professions group, the most sought-after are qualified professions in health and social services (56.3%) and beauty care operators (55.2%). Among skilled workers and operators, the most sought-after are craft mechanics, fitters, repairers, and maintenance workers (72.7%), smelters, welders, and carpentry fitters (71.9%), and earthmoving and material handling machine operators (71.8%).
In the primary sector, the most sought-after positions that are most difficult to fill are market relations technicians (76.2%), livestock farmers and skilled workers in animal husbandry (68.1%), restaurant operators and staff (61.5%), and agricultural machine operators (59.2%).
Opportunities for young people under 30 account for around 3 out of 10 new hires, for a total of over 129,000 contracts. Financial and insurance services, IT and telecommunications services, and media and communication services stand out with a share of hires targeting young people exceeding 40% of planned contracts.
The share of new hires that companies plan to fill with immigrant workers is 24.2% of the total. The highest percentages are in textiles, clothing, and footwear (44.7%), the primary sector (44.3%), construction (33.6%), metallurgy (30.1%), operational services (27.7%), and logistics (26.7%).
From a geographical perspective, the greatest employment opportunities are offered by companies in Lombardy (89,000 contracts in the month and 263,000 in the quarter), Lazio (around 48,000 in the month and 146,000 in the quarter) and Veneto (47,000 in the month and 146,000 in the quarter).
[1] The March forecasts concern contracts with a duration of at least 20 working days planned by companies in the primary sector (agriculture, forestry, hunting, and fishing), industry, and services registered in the Chamber of Commerce Business Register, with at least one employee. The forecasts were collected between January 28, 2026, and February 11, 2026, mainly using the CAWI compilation technique through interviews conducted with approximately 101,800 companies.
