one in six companies increases its workforce – CafeTV24

• Tertiary sector Fvg: one in six companies increases its workforce

• From April to June over 31 thousand hires are expected

• Reduced consumption for six out of ten families causes an increase in prices

• Region first in Italy in shopping centres, Isontino in the lead

Employment improves, but the increase in prices slows down consumption. The difficulty in finding professional figures entering the catering industry in an area where the diffusion of large-scale organized distribution remains record-breaking is confirmed.

It is the summary of what was presented at the Confcommercio Pordenone headquarters during a meeting with the press promoted by the Bilateral Tertiary Body of Fvg. On the table are investigations into the world of work by Format Research and Ires Fvg. To intervene the president of Ebiter Andrea Sappa, the deputy Fabio Pillon, the scientific director of Format Research Pierluigi Ascani and the researcher of Ires Fvg Alessandro Russo.

BY FORMAT RESEARCH

EMPLOYMENT FRAMEWORK

Employment in the Friuli Venezia Giulia tertiary sector is holding at the end of 2023, with a slight improvement compared to the first months of the year. The economic indicator is equal to 53 points. For the next six months, 86% of FVG tertiary companies expect a stable employment situation. Almost 11% of companies plan to increase the number of employees within the first six months of 2024.

WORKER EXPECTATIONS

During 2023 the indicator with reference to the economic situation of families improves, in 2022 it was equal to 37 and at the end of 2023 it was equal to 40. The economic condition situation is destined to improve in the next six months: 23.2% indicates that their economic situation will improve, the percentage of those who say it will get worse goes to 30.8% and the economic indicator also reaches 46 points. The area of ​​social hardship of Fvg families remains substantially unchanged: it was equal to 18.0% at the beginning of 2023, today it is equal to 17.6% of families. In 2023, 34.2% of workers saw the value of their consumption for goods and services increase, for 57.8% they remained unchanged and for 8% their consumption decreased. The impact on consumption from external factors such as inflation was very significant for almost one worker in four and quite significant for 63.6%. Mandatory expenses for workers, such as mortgages, bills, household management and other similar expenses have grown considerably over the last year. The impact on these costs from external factors was very or somewhat significant for 84.2% of workers.

STAFF SEARCH

In the last two years, 48.6% of tertiary companies have carried out searches for new staff for their business. For 2024, 33.4% of companies plan to search for new staff. 63.8% of companies have searched for new staff or intend to search for them due to the need to replace staff they have lost in the last period. 42.0% of companies are looking for new staff because they have grown as a business. In 63.4% of cases the staff lost by the companies relocated to companies in other sectors, in 37.2% of the cases the resources retired or preferred to retire from work, in 19.1% the resources decided to change their lifestyle. Much more frequently than all other methods, companies resorted to their personal acquaintances and word of mouth to search for new staff. 40.9% of companies that have undertaken or intend to undertake the search for new personnel have encountered many difficulties in the company, 35.1% claim to have encountered enough difficulties and the remaining 24.0% would have encountered few or no difficulty. Of the companies that undertook the search for new staff, 33.7% identified and hired all or almost all the resources they needed, while 22.9% failed to hire even one resource. 49% of companies that failed to integrate all the resources they needed suffered a fairly or very significant impact on their revenues, while 51% suffered a little or no significant impact on revenues. For 82.3% of companies, the main reason why the company is experiencing difficulties in finding new staff would be the shortage of staff with the skills, abilities or experience sought. In 40.7%, working hours are considered heavy. 76.6% of companies maintain that the most effective measure to facilitate the search and retention of personnel is the reduction of labor costs and specifically of tax burdens on labor. 33% instead suggest greater incentives for hiring young people. Thinking about 2024, 12.7% of workers fear risking losing their current job. Of these, almost half expect difficulty in finding a new job and will resort to social safety nets. Over the last two years, 55.8% of workers who do not fear losing their job have not thought about looking for a new job, 29.1% have thought about changing jobs but without actively looking for it while the remaining 15.1% actively sought new employment. 51.1% of workers would think about changing jobs due to the current pay being too low, 48.9% due to unsatisfactory working conditions, 40.9% to seek new stimuli and grow professionally.

TRAINING NEEDS

In the last year, 34% of companies had their employees participate in non-mandatory training courses. In 65.3% of cases they concerned safety and health at work, in 55.3% of cases they concerned technologies and digitalisation. 45.2% of companies turned to a trade association to receive the training they needed, 40.6% turned to a training body, 34.1% to specialized consultancy companies, the 21.8% to an external consultant and 11.2% to the investment provider who required the specific training. The training activity was carried out in the majority of cases in person at the company, the most common methods to follow are training via online courses managed by a tutor and courses in person but at the training provider. Among the main objectives that companies intend to pursue through the implementation of training activities, increasing the quality of service is the most sought after (80% of companies). 44.7% of companies received funding, even partial, from external parties for the implementation of training activities. In 20% of cases it concerned inter-professional funds for the continuous training of employees. The main reasons behind the companies’ choice not to carry out training activities are that the resources already have the appropriate skills, the reduced amount of time for training activities and the fact that these activities have already been carried out in the past. 69.4% of workers have participated in company training activities in the last two years, of which almost 75% assessed the usefulness of the course with a grade equal to or higher than 6. The methods of delivery of the training processes preferred by workers are participation in seminars or conferences, self-study courses taken via the internet with the support of a tutor and classroom courses. 86.3% of workers would like to deepen their IT and digital skills, 82.4% would like to deepen their organizational and management skills, 74.8% would deepen their knowledge of foreign languages.

Methodological note – The economic observatory on the trend of employment in the tertiary sector of Friuli-Venezia Giulia is based on a continuous six-monthly survey carried out on a statistically representative sample of the universe of trade, tourism and service businesses of the region (1,236 interviews) and on a statistically representative sample of workers in tertiary companies in Friuli Venezia Giulia (500 interviews). Margin of confidence: +2.5%. The survey was carried out by the Format Research Institute, through Cati/Cawi interviews, in the period 18 March – 4 April 2024. www.agcom.it www.formatresearch.com

BY IRES FVG

THE EMPLOYMENT

Employment in the tertiary sector in Friuli Venezia Giulia grew constantly in the three-year period 2021-2023, even exceeding pre-pandemic values. In 2023, there were 350,000 people employed in services, equal to 67.3% of the total. This dynamic was favored by the positive trend of tourism and was accompanied by a significant increase in seasonal work.

RECRUITMENT FORECASTS

In the period April-June 2024, 31,220 hires are expected in the region, of which 69% in services (21,600). When compared with the forecasts for the same period last year, a significant increase is highlighted (+9%). In April the majority of hirings by tertiary companies will be made in tourism and commercial activities and will concern catering workers (1,830 hires) and sales workers (850). Furthermore, the professional figures expected to enter the catering sector present difficulties in finding them in 62% of cases (almost always due to a lack of candidates), a figure which in the last year has remained constantly higher than the general average.

SALARY

Wages in the service sector have recovered, but only in nominal terms, the values ​​recorded before the pandemic. Among the sectors with the highest social security taxable income, we note that of software production and IT consultancy activities, with around 4,600 employed in the region in 2022 and an average of almost 32,000 euros. In the lowest positions there are accommodation services (13,047 euros), cleaning (12,808 euros) and catering (10,750 euros). If we consider permanent and full-time workers, the gaps are reduced, with catering recording an average value of 21,145 euros compared to 35,540 for software production and IT consultancy activities. It can also be noted that in the sectors with the highest wages the incidence of women is generally a minority and vice versa (39% in IT services, over 60% in hotel, catering and cleaning activities).

LARGE ORGANIZED DISTRIBUTION

In 2023, Friuli Venezia Giulia is in first place among the regions for the diffusion of large-scale retail trade in relation to the population, with 945 m2 of sales surface per thousand inhabitants. The former province of Gorizia is first in Italy (with 1,190 m2 per 1,000 residents, a value more than double the national average), followed by Udine (with 1,061); they are the only ones that exceed 1,000 m2. Pordenone is seventh (with 802 m2) and Trieste twelfth (731 m2). Our region has a particularly high incidence of large specialized surfaces (not less than 1,500 m2) on the national total (6.2% against a general average of 3.4%). For shops specialized in the textile and clothing sector the incidence rises to 9.5%.

THE DYNAMICS OF PRICE

The dynamics of food prices still remained sustained during the last year, despite the slowdown after the peak in October 2022 (+11.3% on an annual basis in Fvg). The consumer price index for the entire community in 2023 recorded a trend variation of +5.4% in the region, food products and non-alcoholic drinks experienced almost double growth (+10.1%). The first months of 2024 see a continuation of the slowdown phase in food inflation (+3% in March), while the general index remains more constant (+1.6%).

FAMILY EXPENDITURE

In 2022 (last year available) the average monthly consumption expenditure of Fvg families grew by 2.2% (almost 60 euros more), in particular in the clothing and footwear sector (+20.3%) and of catering and accommodation services (+25.2%). The share of expenditure allocated to food consumption (17.8%) has, however, decreased after the peak recorded during the pandemic (19.1%). The chapter relating to the house (which also includes water, electricity, heating, etc.) is confirmed in first place, equal to more than 1,000 euros per month out of a total of over 2,600.