by Chiara Fabrizi
Hiring down for both June and the entire summer. The decline in job placements in Umbria is certified by the latest survey of the Excelsior information system, which measures the intentions of approximately 110 thousand companies active in all the main sectors in the region.
Work in Umbria, hiring due in June In particular, in June the decrease in the demand for the workforce was 5.1 percent, in absolute numbers this is 300 fewer places, with the companies that for the current month have a total of 5,560 people expected to hire compared to 5,850 in the June 2023. The negative data for Umbria is heavier than those reported by Unioncamere and Anpal, who take care of the survey, according to which in June in Italy there will be a 0.3 percent contraction in job starts compared to June last year , while in Central Italy it stands at -1.5 percent. Even the hiring data for June coming from the regions bordering Umbria are better: Tuscany marks +0.4 percent hiring in June, Marche -2.9 percent and Lazio -2.2 percent . The decline in job starts in Umbria for the current month is even more significant, i.e. -9.7 percent, when compared to June 2022, when the expected job starts were 6,160.
The balance sheet for the summer quarter was also negative The hiring balance in Umbria is less severe by extending the analysis to the summer quarter, which rises to 15,460 with a decrease of 1.7 percent on summer 2023, when the forecast of job starts were 15,730, or 270 more. In particular, of the 15,460 that Umbrian businesses expect to need, 3,420 are from the tourism sector, therefore hotels and restaurants; 2,330 from trade; 1,780 for personal services; 1,700 of buildings; 880 for operational services to businesses and people. Less than one hiring in four, precisely 23 percent, will be stable (permanent or apprenticeship) and one hiring in three, or 34 percent, is reserved for under 30s, while 56 entrepreneurs out of 100 expect to struggle to find the profiles they need.
Comparisons The estimate on hiring in Umbria in the period June-August, however, remains among the highest in recent years: in summer 2022, in fact, there were 15,400 places (summer 2024 is worth +0.4 percent); in 2021 even 14,700 (+5.2 percent); in 2019 to 12,890 (+19.9 percent); and, finally, in 2018 to 13,610 (+14.3 percent). Despite this, however, Umbria’s performance for the June-August quarter goes against the trend both with respect to both the national figure, which marks a 1 percent increase in hiring, and the figure for Central Italy, which however records a modest + 0.2 percent. At a regional level, however, the Marche performs worse than Umbria with -2.3 percent, while Tuscany and Lazio are positive at 0.5 percent and 1 percent respectively.
Curbs from hotels and restaurants What weighs on the slowdown in the positive trend is above all the supply of jobs in the tourism sector which, as highlighted by the Umbria Chamber of Commerce, “obviously has a key role in the summer quarter”. In the regional sector, in fact, in June hotels, restaurants and tourist services expect to hire 1,120 people compared to the 1,240 requested by the sector in 2023 (-9.7 percent) and the 1,400 in 2022 (-20 percent). Isolating the job placements in the tourism sector for the summer, Umbrian companies expect to need 3,420 workers with a decrease of 7.3 percent on the June-August quarter of 2023, when 3,690 were needed, while the summer starting is in line with that of the same quarter of 2022, when hiring stood at 3,430.
Mencaroni In this context, the president of the Umbria Chamber of Commerce, Giorgio Mencaroni, recognizes that the data «this time do not make Umbria shine, which suffers a decline greater than the national average and that of the Centre», even if «the current situation proof of the facts – he says – could be better, because there could be, in the forecasts of tourism companies, an excess of prudence”, thanks to the fact that “the summer promotional campaign of the Umbria Region, in the past the bearer of flattering results, has yet to demonstrate all its effects”, claims Mencaroni. The president then highlights «the worsening of the difficulties that companies encounter in finding the professional figures they need. We need – Mencaroni says again – an organic and persistent policy that has within it, in addition to training and everything needed to overcome this mismatch, also a cut in the tax wedge, to increase the real income of workers and stimulate supply of work. In Italy and Umbria, faced with this serious difficulty, there is a very large area of inactive people and it is a situation that absolutely must be removed if we want to remove this boulder from the path of growth and economic and social development”.
