Bolzano – I am 11,483 the registered unemployed: this is the number of people registered as unemployed as of August 15, 2023, compared to 11,165 of the previous year. Four out of ten of these unemployed have been unemployed for more than 12 months and are therefore considered long-term unemployed. The Labor Market Observatory of the Labor Market Service has decided to analyze the unemployed by identifying a reference date, choosing 15 August to exclude as much as possible forms of unemployment due to cyclical and seasonal factors. The results of this analysis and the causes of unemployment in an area with high demand for labor force in the particular economic moment in which employment is at its highest level, are the subject of the current issue of “Labour Market – news”.
Almost two-thirds of the unemployed registered on 15 August 2023 are women, including over 2,000 with young children who have resigned “voluntarily” due to work-life balance problems and who can receive unemployment benefits for up to two years. The percentage of registered unemployed men is just over a third. 7 out of 10 registered unemployed people have Italian citizenship, one in ten comes from a non-EU European country and just over one in ten comes from a non-European country. 83 out of 100 unemployed people are residents of South Tyrol. In light of the reference date chosen, the sectors of origin of the unemployed are worthy of note: just over a quarter (26.2%) were previously employed in tourism, a fifth (21.9%) in other services, 16 .6% had never worked in South Tyrol and 12.3% had previously worked in trade. The public sector plays a certain role with 10.2%.
“In 2023 alone, the Labor Market Service concluded 25,000 service agreements with people looking for work. A concrete contribution to increasing the employability of these people”, declares Magdalena Amhof, provincial councilor for employment, who outlines the future strategy : “Given the strong competition for every single worker, we must provide our companies and job seekers with quality job mediation. I am in constant dialogue with the Labor Market Service to help launch new services for the unemployed and for companies. Because declarations of intent are one thing, the concrete implementation of services and measures is another”, says provincial councilor Amhof.
Special data in Bolzano
The unemployed registered in the Employment Mediation Centre Bolzano they differ structurally from those registered in the other CMLs of the province: They are older and more often male than the provincial average. Furthermore, the percentage of non-resident members (18.3%), citizens of non-EU European countries (10.5%) and non-European countries (14.6%) is the highest. Unlike what happens at the provincial level, in the area of competence of the CML Bolzano, “Other services” are the sector from which the greatest number of unemployed people come (25.2%).
They are more than those coming from the hotel-restaurant sector (20.4%). The share of registered unemployed who have never worked in South Tyrol is also above average in the CML Bolzano.
Of the 11,483 unemployed registered as of 15 August 2023, 4,884 (42.5%) are long-term unemployed, as they obtained their unemployment status more than a year earlier. At the provincial level, 944 mothers of young children fall into this category, equal to 19.3%. With 2,927 people, the Bolzano CML takes care of almost 60% of the unemployed registered for more than 12 months.
Supply and demand struggle to meet
Stefan Lutherdirector of the Labor Market Service, explains that the analysis on the basis of a precise reference date allows us to identify more precisely some of the reasons for unemployment. “In Alto Adige we must start from a basic principle: Unlike some Italian regions, we have almost no unemployment that can be attributed to a general weakness in the demand for labor force. Our unemployment – if it is not seasonal or frictional, i.e. attributable to situations of change of activity – is due to the fact that supply and demand struggle to meet each other. In concrete terms: the unemployed and businesses know too little about each other, they are not sufficiently in tune”. he remarks Luther.
One of the main tasks of the Work Mediation Centers is to encourage the finding of a workforce ready for the job market, offering training, internships and tutoring measures where necessary. However, companies must also be willing to overcome some potential obstacles such as working hours which are not always compatible with the personal needs of workers. A challenge, according to Luther, is represented by the so-called territorial matching problems: it is unthinkable to expect all unemployed people to be willing to commute medium and long distances. Health limitations also play an important role, especially for older people. “Concerning these areas”, says the director of the SML, “we must develop and adapt new concepts”. While the supply of labor force, i.e. unemployed workers, must increase their employability, the demand for labor force – employers with vacant jobs – must also make changes and adapt. “Because we are approaching a state of labor shortage,” says the head of the Labor Market Service, getting to the heart of the matter. “Of course there are also cases with activation problems. Especially people who have not had contact with the job market for a long time or who have needs that are particularly distant from the job market.
Problems we work on every day and soon we will have new tools available. Although we use sanctions when the situation calls for it, sanctioning is not our main objective. Studies conducted by our partner institutions in the neighboring regions of the north demonstrate that sanctions – if used improperly – can lead these people to abandon the labor market altogether.”
Tags: Bolzano Labor market analysis unemployment data Gazzetta delle Valli
