Economy - published on 13 September 2024
Source: Unioncamere press office
Rome, September 11, 2024 – There are 538 thousand workers sought by companies in September, with a fixed-term contract of more than one month or a permanent contract. Employment forecasts from the Bulletin of the Excelsior Information System, produced by Unioncamere and the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy [1] show an increase of 7 thousand compared to what was planned for September 2023 (+1.3%), while for the September-November 2024 quarter, planned hires slightly exceed 1.4 million, remaining almost stable compared to the same period in 2023 (+0.1%).
Driving the projected growth this month is the services sector: 386 thousand planned contracts (+3.9% compared to 12 months ago), and more than 1 million in the quarter, with the decisive contribution to employment growth coming from tourism (+21.4% in September) and commercial businesses (+25.4%). In contrast, demand from industrial firms slowed in both September (152 thousand, -7 thousand entries compared to a year ago; -4.6%) and the quarter (418 thousand entries, -25 thousand entries; -5.7%).
Specifically, in September, manufacturing firms are looking for about 98 thousand workers (-1.0%), while construction firms are looking for more than 54 thousand (-10.5%). Among the main manufacturing sectors planning to hire are mechatronics with about 24 thousand contracts in the month and 64 thousand in the quarter (-6.8% over the month and -7.8 over the quarter) followed by metallurgy with 18 thousand contracts in the month and 48 thousand in the quarter (-10.2% and -12.9%, respectively) and food industries looking for 17 thousand workers in September and 49 thousand for the entire September-November quarter (+23.7% and +23.5%, respectively).
In the tertiary sector, offering the greatest job opportunities are personal services which seek 101 thousand workers in the month (-9.0%) and about 201 thousand in the quarter (-15.7%). This is followed by tourism with 84 thousand applications in the month (+21.4%) and 238 thousand in the quarter (+22.9%) and trade with 75 thousand workers in the month (+25.4%) and 230 thousand in the quarter (+24.1%).
Under the size aspect, the expectations of medium-large companies are positive with +9 thousand entries in the month (+2.3%) and +15 thousand in the quarter (+1.5%), while the expectations of companies up to 9 employees are down, respectively -1.8 thousand entries compared to 12 months ago (-1.3%) and -13 thousand in the quarter (-3.2%).
Fixed-term contracts are confirmed as the most proposed form of contract with 306 thousand or 56.9% of the total followed by permanent contracts (104 thousand).
In September, companies report hard-to-find entries for more than 254,000 hires (47.2 percent of the total), mainly due to “lack of candidates” (30.4 percent). The occupational groups with the highest mismatch are skilled workers (65.6 percent share of hard-to-find entries), executives (61.4 percent), technical occupations (52.9 percent) and fixed and mobile plant operators (51.5 percent). In particular, Excelsior’s Occupation Bulletin reports skilled construction finishers (79.0 percent), blacksmiths toolmakers (78.8 percent), toolmakers, laborers and wood treatment craftsmen (76.0 percent) and smelters, welders (73.3 percent) among the hardest-to-find occupations. Also hard to find are goods and services production process management technicians (71.9 percent), mechanics, fitters and repairers (69.5 percent), cosmetic care workers (66.3 percent) and technicians in the engineering field (65.6 percent).
Companies are looking for migrant workers to fill more than 100,000 planned entries in September, accounting for 19.4 percent of total contracts. Sectors making the most use of foreign labor include: operational support services for businesses and people (34.3 percent of planned entries will be filled by immigrant workers), transportation, logistics and warehousing services (32.8 percent), metallurgy (23.6 percent), accommodation and food services (23.3 percent) and food (19.5 percent).
Opportunities for young people “under 30” are close to 165,000, accounting for 30.6 percent of total expected hiring in September. The largest employment opportunities for young people are in financial and insurance services (48 percent of entries covered by young people), IT and telecommunications services (47.6 percent), media and communication services (47.4 percent), trade (41.2 percent) and accommodation and food services (41.0 percent).
At the territorial level, demand for labor from firms in the Northwest and Center is growing (+6 thousand hires for both territorial areas), demand for labor from firms in the South and Islands is almost stable, while there is a decline for firms in the Northeast (-4 thousand hires).
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