Rome, April 3, 2026 – Companies expect to hire 500,000 new employees in April, while forecasts for the April – June quarter indicate approximately 1.67 million new hires. Compared to the April 2025 forecasts, the monthly total is virtually unchanged (-140 units), while the quarterly figure shows a slight decrease (-8,000 contracts, or -0.5%).
By sector, growth is expected in accommodation, food service, and tourism (+3.8%), transportation, logistics, and warehousing (+5.5%), and personal services (+2.0%). The primary sector is also projected to see positive growth (+3.5%). Manufacturing, on the other hand, shows an overall decline in projected hiring (-4.1%), with the sharpest drops in the wood and furniture industries (-9.6%), the metallurgical and metal products industries (-7.0%), and the chemical-pharmaceutical, plastics, and rubber industries (-6.9%). The construction sector also recorded a slight decline (-1.0%).
This scenario is outlined in the Excelsior Information System Bulletin, produced by Unioncamere and the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, which compiles employment forecasts for the month of April.
Companies in the primary sector expect to hire 42,000 workers in April (8.4% of the total) and 131,000 in the April-June quarter (7.9%).
The industrial sector is expected to generate approximately 118,000 new jobs in April and 383,000 in the quarter. Within the manufacturing sector, projected hiring totals approximately 74,000 for the month and 238,000 for the quarter, with the greatest opportunities coming from the mechanical and electronics industries (18,000 for the month and 55,000 for the quarter), the metallurgical sector (13,000 and 42,000), the food industry (13,000 and 43,000), and the textile, apparel, and footwear sector (8,000 and 25,000). The construction sector expects approximately 45,000 new hires in April and 145,000 by June.
In the services sector, companies plan to hire about 340,000 people this month, rising to 1.15 million for the quarter. The main driving sectors are: accommodation and food services (117,000 contracts in April and 418,000 in the quarter), retail trade (62,000 and 209,000), personal services (52,000 and 184,000), and transportation, logistics, and warehousing services (32,000 and 100,000).
Nearly half of the positions companies planned to fill in April (44.6%), amounting to approximately 223,000 positions, are proving difficult to fill. Recruitment difficulties are particularly concentrated in construction (61%), the textile-apparel, wood-furniture, and metallurgy sectors (all with figures exceeding 56%), as well as in the mechanical and electronics industries and IT and telecommunications services, which still exceed 50%.
Among the most in-demand yet hard-to-find professionals, skilled construction finishers stand out in particular, with nearly 72% of positions in this field being difficult to fill, followed by artisan mechanics, assemblers, repairers, and maintenance technicians (70.6%), production process management technicians (68.3%), and engineering technicians (65.7%) . Significant shortages are also reported for machine operators in the textile and apparel industry (67.5%) and for healthcare technicians (63.9%).
In the primary sector, 41.1% of the hires planned by companies are facing recruitment difficulties in April, particularly regarding executives, highly specialized professions, and technicians (54.5%), as well as office workers and professions in commerce and services (51.1%).
As for young people under 30, opportunities account for about 28% of planned hires, corresponding to approximately 139,000 contracts.
A significant share of new hires is intended for immigrant workers, amounting to 24.1% of the total (approximately 121,000 contracts).
From a regional perspective, the greatest job opportunities are concentrated in the South and the Islands, where companies expect approximately 160,000 new hires for the month and 552,000 for the quarter. This is followed by the Northwest (125,000 for the month and 400,000 for the quarter), the Northeast (113,000 and 386,000), and finally the Center, with 101,000 monthly hires and 330,000 for the quarter.
