Milan, 28 June 2024 – The declining trend of self-employed workers in trade and crafts. The data published by the INPS Autonomous Observatory, updated to 2023, show practically everywhere a reduction in numbers both compared to 2022 and by making a comparison with 10 years ago, in 2014, when the economic situation was also marked by the great global crisis.
As for the craftsmen, in 2023 the average annual number of INPS members was 263,158 compared to 275,763 in 2022 and around 50 thousand less than the 314,831 in 2014. In one year, there are therefore 12,600 fewer artisans at a regional level, around -4.5%. Among the provinces, in absolute value the greatest drops are in Milan (-4,455), Bergamo (-1602) and Brescia (-1600), but in percentage terms, the greatest reduction was in the Mantua area (-6% in 2023 compared to 2022) and in the province of Varese (-5%). The decline depends on the combination of closures and opening numbers which are not enough to compensate for those retiring.
The “historians” resist
If we look at the Lombard regional data, in 2023 there were only 6,355 artisans with one or two years of activity behind them, a number drastically reduced compared to the 16,021 in 2022, which was the negative record of the last ten years. It essentially means that in the last two years very few have undertaken this activityless than half of those of last year.
It resistsInstead, who has more than 20 years of activity: there are 135,895 Lombard artisans with this historicity, more than half of the total. A positive sign in terms of consolidation of these activities and maintenance of know-how, but which should be accompanied with a generational change that is not happening. This trend is also confirmed if we look at the age groups: there are 25,106 artisans under 35 (there were 30,246 in 2022, 44,855 in 2014), with a prevalence of collaborators (20,319).
Gender issues
On the contrary, there are 106 thousand people aged 55 and over, the highest number in the last 10 years (there were 81,596 in 2014): almost 100 thousand are owners. There are few women artisans55,510 in all of Lombardy, -8,000 compared to 10 years ago: 20 thousand are over 55, also growing; not even 6 thousand are under-35.
The man-woman relationship in commerce is different, where the self-employed account for approximately 30% of the total 299 thousand workers. Also in this case there is a decrease compared to 2022 and, in general, compared to the last 10 years: just think that in 2014 the average annual number of traders registered with INPS was 324,000.
In the last two years, among the provinces Bergamo, Cremona, Mantua and Pavia have recorded reductions of more than 1%, while going against the trend is Milan, where there are 477 more traders. Compared to 2014, there are 24 thousand fewer self-employed workers registered with INPS in this sector, with drops of 14% in the Mantua area, 15% in the Pavia area, and above 12% in Lodi, Varese and Sondrio. Only 21,626 have been members for 1 or 2 years, just as there are only 37 thousand under-35s compared to 124 thousand over-55s.
The collaborators node
In most cases of cases, traders are the owners (275 thousand, a number that remains stable compared to 2022), while collaborators are missingonly 24 thousand in the whole of Lombardy (at least those registered with INPS), compared to 36 thousand in 2014. Half of the collaborators are over 50, a sign that the sector offers a job opportunity to those close to retirement.
The number of women who own commercial businesses has increased compared to the last five years, with just over 87 thousand registered with INPS (annual average): of these, more than 47 thousand are over 50. However, there are few under-35s who do this job, 10 thousand compared to 13 thousand and 500 10 years ago.
