Green and digital drive the job demand. Over the next five years, the labor market will require 1,6 million workers who can develop eco-sustainable solutions and strategies and 1,5 million workers who are able to navigate the Internet in a more or less professional way. As shown by the medium-term forecasts (2020-2024) of Excelsior information system di Unioncamere, presented at Job&Orienta, eco-sustainability and digitization are among the main factors of change that are transforming the labor market. And in the coming years, a further boost in this direction could come from European investments linked to the Next Generation Eu.
In fact, around 2,7 million people will enter the world of work overall in the next 5 years and 62% will have to have green skills. Furthermore, for almost one million of these profiles (about 38%), the aptitude for energy saving and environmental sustainability will even be a decisive factor for hiring purposes.
The demand for green skills will affect all professions across the board, focusing in particular on highly specialized and technical profiles: 46% of workers with "green" skills will in fact be highly qualified profiles (744 professionals). For 452 thousand of these the green skill is even considered decisive. More green skills will be required of existing professional figures: civil engineers, energy and mechanical engineers, but also construction site management technicians and occupational safety technicians.
In fact, the construction sector, which already stands out for a high incidence of figures with a high green attitude, will be able to give a strong impetus to the demand for employees to meet the redevelopment needs of the existing real estate assets and a more attentive design to the sustainability of the buildings , the limitation of energy consumption and harmful emissions. Furthermore, the demand for green skills will bring out new professional figures (green jobs): environmental jurist, energy manager, green accounting specialist, environmental IT scientist, promoter of new sustainable materials.
Equally required will be digital skills, become even more strategic in the light of recent events. The Covid 19 pandemic has led to a very strong acceleration of the digitization process that was already underway, both by triggering a digital change in many production activities (smart working, online commerce, digitization of procedures in many business and personal services ), and by imposing a strong "forced" growth of the digital skills of many workers as well as students.
Basic digital skills, such as the use of internet technologies and visual and multimedia communication tools, will be required of around 1,5 million workers expected to join in the next 5 years, equal to 56% of the job opportunities that will be created among turnover and new jobs.
Also in this case, the demand for digital skills will affect existing professional figures as well as new emerging professions such as data scientist, big data analyst, cloud computing expert, cyber security expert, business intelligence analyst and artificial intelligence system engineer.
