De Felice (Intesa): “In Italy companies are looking for 2.5 million workers”. Flexibility key for the future

The gap between job supply and demand is struggling to close. “Businesses still have great difficulty in finding manpower, particularly in the world of services. This mismatch has very large numbers: the total is 2.5 million hard-to-find entries in 2023, 45.1% of the total” .

The photograph of a problem that exploded after Covid and is still very present on the Italian labor market was taken by the chief economist of Intesa Sanpaolo, Gregorio De Felice, at the presentation of the research results of the Look4ward observatory. “We have a demand for labor from companies that is not satisfied. Companies cannot find suitable personnel” and “the supply of workers is not adequate for what companies require”, he continued.

“We are a country with high unemployment (7%), very high youth unemployment, particularly in many regions of the South and yet we have 2.5 million people that the production system cannot find. This gap is growing“, added De Felice, according to whom the sectors most affected by this discrepancy between supply and demand are tourism “with over half a million people” and business services. “It is not just an issue of graduates, the income is difficult to find at 60% are found among skilled workers.”

The general employment context is however negative. 2023 saw record rates for Italy, which still remains far behind other European economies and has a problem with an aging workforce. “We find ourselves in a period of economic stagnation, however we have a new phenomenon compared to the past. Despite low economic growth in recent years we have seen an acceleration in the number of people employed, particularly in construction (+17.3%) “, De Felice recalled, obviously citing the Superbonus which determined the performance of that sector. Employment “grew by 1.9% in 2023” and De Felice’s forecast is “a further +1% this year and 0.7% per year in 2025 and 2026. However, we remain in a job market that remains tense. This is also true in the United States and in many other European countries, but in Italy in particular”, continued the chief economist.

Look4ward research

As for the research itself, the work that the bank conducts in collaboration with the Luiss Guido Carli University and in partnership with Siref Fiduciaria, Accenture and Digit’Ed, shows the strategic approach of CEOs and human resources managers to say how over 70% of those interviewed put the ability to show adaptability and the ability to change mentality at the center of the work of the future. Organizations also need professionals with digital, green, relational and adaptation skills to continuous change. The skills considered most important for the future are managerial critical thinking (reported by 45% of those interviewed) and self-organization (36%).

Investigating the new skills necessary to keep up with the twin transitions (digital and green), the study conducted by Paolo Boccardelli concluded that rigid hierarchies are no longer suitable for a constantly evolving context and the new skills must be able to express themselves in contexts characterized by flexible and collaborative organizational models, which promote continuous learning, relational skills and autonomy, also through continuous training and the development of new skills. Fundamental then is the exercise of new leadership, the ability of a manager to act as a facilitator, paying attention to the care of relationships, through leadership based on the “power of We” rather than on the centrality of the individual. “In a constantly evolving world, characterized by an unprecedented acceleration of change – he explains Elisa Zambito Marsala, head of Education ecosystem and global value programs at Intesa Sanpaolo – we are faced with global challenges driven by transformative trends in society. Look4ward has the primary objective of identifying the needs for new skills and the regeneration of traditional skills in strategic sectors, necessary to adapt to ongoing corporate transformations and new businesses. The objective is to create innovation and sustainability training actions and intervention models that simultaneously generate value for businesses and create new opportunities for the country.”