Employment is growing and, with it, the difficulty of finding the required figures, especially if qualified, is also increasing. In Abruzzo, in 2023, according to Unioncamere-Anpal data (2023), companies indicated a difficulty of finding 46.6%, an increase of almost 6 percentage points compared to 40.8% in 2022. This is revealed by an elaboration by the Confartigianato Imprese Chieti L’Aquila Study Center.
Precisely to meet the growing demands, the association, in collaboration with Academy ForMe, has launched the new “I am looking for – I offer work” platformaimed at facilitating the meeting between job supply and demand.
At the basis of the initiative is the mismatch between supply and demand, especially if qualified, which is constantly growing also in the area, with higher percentages than the national average. Last year, in Abruzzo, out of 116,720 hires, 54,410 were difficult to find. The difficulty in micro and small enterprises (MPIs) is higher than that of the average enterprise and rises to 49.3%. In artisan businesses the criticality is even more marked: 55.6% of the figures requested are difficult to find, i.e. nine percentage points more than the average of 46.6%.
The phenomenon of long search times for workers also represents a cost for SMEs, which for Abruzzo is equal to 254 million euros: 72 million in the province of Chieti, 69 million in that of Teramo, 60 million in the province of Pescara and 53 million in that of L’Aquila.
According to a Eurobarometer survey, the lack of qualified figures and skills prevents the company from being more sustainable for the environment. In 2023, in Abruzzo, out of over 39 thousand ‘green’ incomes expected in companies, 53.6% are difficult to find, an increase of over eight points compared to 45.1% in 2022. The problem also concerns figures with high digital skills 4.0: of the approximately 10 thousand entries into micro and small businesses in Abruzzo in 2023, 55.9% are difficult to find.
