Cassa Integrazione, in the province of Bergamo +153% of requests

Bergamo. A worrying increase, a figure that scares and leads to inevitable reflections: in the first five months of the 2024 in the province of Bergamo the requests for redundancy payments have increased by 153,1% compared to 2023. This is highlighted by the 5th Report on redundancy fund elaborated by Uil Lombardy which paints a critical picture for the entire region.

In May of this year, compared to the same period last year, 2023in Lombardy there was an increase in requests equal to 49,8%for a total of over 8 million hourscompared to an Italian average of +41.2%. Between January and May, growth on a regional scale was 26,5% (40,116,520 hours) while on the national territory of 21,3%.

The Orobic province records the second most negative data, behind only Sondrio which is leading with an increase of 224,3%In the first five months of the year, workers on redundancy pay were well 47.196 in the Lombardy Region.

“In the province of Bergamo the authorized hours available have been doubled, from 1.5 million to over 3 million. An exponential increase – comments Pasquale Papaianniterritorial coordinator of the Uil Bergamo -. However, we are talking about a figure that in truth does not represent the total number of hours used but rather the ‘authorised’ hours”.

“There is a need to carry out a healthy reflection: the phenomenon has deep roots and leads to a critical picture that must be carefully monitored – continues the Uil manager -. Compared to the province of Brescia, our sister, there is an extremely marked difference (the growth in Brescia stands at +7.9%, ndr). The regional coordination has requested to activate the company crisis unit in each province to monitor the trends: the +150% is not a physiological decline, but rather something to be corrected”.

In the regional territory, among the productive sectors in which the growth of the hours of Cassa required has reached critical levels, the following emerges:building (increase of 96,9%). In contrast, the tradewhich in Lombardy records a -43%.

The situation in Bergamo is not among the rosiest even with regards to the sectorcraftsmanship. “During the first half of this year there has been a significant increase in FSBA requests, in line with the national phenomenon – he declares Damiano Bettoniresponsible for Artigianato Uil -. The rules have also recently changed: companies can no longer make quarterly requests as before, but only monthly ones that are renewed every 30 days. Before, the request could be uploaded into the system after the start of the Cassa period, now it is mandatory to upload in advance and provide direct testimony with balance sheet data and proof of the drop in work.

“Requests have also increased in the Bergamo area, companies have experienced a contraction in work that we need to understand whether it is a temporary phase or a structural phenomenon to be investigated – concludes Bettoni -. We are waiting for August to understand how the trend is moving, a snapshot of the Bergamo economy: the three alarm bells to evaluate are the requests for Cassa Integrazione, the overtime that is no longer done and the failure to renew fixed-term contracts”.

The downturn in the job market in the Bergamo area was also confirmed by the latest Report on dependent work drawn up by the Provincial Observatory referring to the first quarter of 2024: the analysis reported, among other things, a 4% drop in hiring in the Province.