The province of Cremona holds a record: in 2023 the unemployment rate was among the lowest in Italy, 2.6%, the second lowest to be precise, after that of Bolzano (2%), a figure that has never emerged before, even if from a qualitative point of view, the majority of those employed have a fixed-term contract, for temporary work or collaborations. Not only that: a notable gap between male and female employment persists in the province of Cremonathe “gender gap”: the female employment rate, although growing from 2015 to today, is among the lowest in the region, with a gap of 19 points between working men and women. In Lombardy only in Brescia and Bergamo is there a differential that exceeds 20%.
The overview of the employment situation in the province of Cremona and its prospects was provided this morning in the Maffei room during the conference “The labor market in the province of Cremona between employment and employability” promoted by the Province of Cremona, Work and Training Sector, during which the PTSCLAS consultants Luca Schionato and Andrea Gianni, introduced by the president Mirko Signoroni, they analyzed the data taken from various sources (Istat, mandatory company communications, Excelsior system, company register, etc.) in front of an audience of students from the Ghisleri institute (5aAFM), Cr.Forma, Itis Torriani professional courses, Istituto Professionale Stanga and Adult Education Center.
“The study we present – he explains Barbara Faroni, manager of the Work and Training Sector – and which represents all the data of our territory, we commission it every year and work on it to build active policies. The comforting fact, and it is a good starting point, is that employment is growing, but attention must be paid to the quality of the work, because there are some critical aspects to address. For example the precariousness of contractual relationships, the problem of demographic decline and the age-old problem of the growth in demand from businesses and the decline in the supply of workers. It is precisely on this point that we intend to act, also through innovative tools, such as the territorial pacts on which the Province is working together with accredited actors”.
In addition to this, “the Province is working on services, both reception and orientation, through a specialized consultancy activity in the search for employment, from compiling the CV to evaluating the job offers that exist. But we are also working on the issues of training provision and in this sense we intend to return to the topic with a new conference that we will hold in November”
The in-depth analysis of the 2023 data in the labor market came from Andrea Gianni, PTSCLAS project manager: “These are decidedly positive numbers, even if they must be taken with caution because it is a sample statistical survey, but what is beyond question is that the positive trend regarding employment continues in the Cremonese area”.
“We are in a historical phase in which there is a enormous tension between supply and demand for work, businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to find the people they need. An aspect that is difficult to resolve, of a quantitative nature, is that there are fewer young people entering the job market than those leaving it; but from a qualitative point of view there are several things that can be done: The Province and institutions are undertaking active labor policy solutions; the school is called to improve and offer a more online training offer with questions from businesses and it is hoped that there be an increase in Its which are the best response that the training system is able to give to the business system”.
From companies’ expectations in the first quarter of 2024, “there are signs that indicate a better capacity of the territory to retain the best resources, stemming the brain drain. However, let’s not forget that the greatest criticality continues to be that of qualified workers, there is a huge drop in the number of people enrolled in professional qualifications and the manufacturing sector is struggling to find staff”, adds Gianni.
The students in the room, in particular, were addressed by Carlo Catania, trainer and orientation expert, which addressed the topic of employability by involving them in the search for key words for the jobs of tomorrow. Each class present thus took the floor to express their opinion: among the most important qualities, problem solving, motivation, knowledge of languages, digital skills.
“Children – adds Catania – often have an imagination that does not correspond to the real world of work. Their representations are often stereotyped, mediated by the world of television series and the web … they imagine themselves doing professions or trades for which there is no real need. And often in their strategies they immediately think about dream project, a hypothesis A, without immediately taking into account hypotheses B or C, which instead they must learn to cultivate”.
“We adults must put ourselves in the perspective that for them the work experience is a partially or completely unknown territory, a territory in which they must abandon their usual coordinates and where they lose all the certainties that have accompanied them up to that moment, in the family, at school in sports clubs. On the one hand they feel the need to explore, discover and have experiences, on the other they almost remain ‘floating’ waiting for the right thing which however perhaps will never arrive”. In short, we need to teach them that while waiting, it is good to take action to have the right tools to seize the opportunity when it presents itself.” gbiagi
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