The impact of the Covid crisis, at least until mid-September, was quite limited for companies in Lombardy. While waiting to understand how much damage the second wave and the new restrictive measures will do, Assolombarda conducted a survey of over a thousand companies in the beating heart of Italy's locomotive, i.e. in the provinces of Milan, Monza Brianza, Lodi and Pavia. It came out that in these areas, where a large part of the regional GDP is produced (which in turn corresponds to a fifth of the national one), until 11 September nine out of ten businesses remained open as normal. Another 8% have partially closed, and only 2% have been forced to lower the shutters (for now) permanently.
Indeed, in the two months between mid-July and mid-September some companies reopened, after having closed during the lockdown. In fact, the data relating to July 15 revealed 85% of companies that remained completely open. The recovery of manufacturing in Italy, considers Assolombarda, “is rapid and above expectations. Industrial production in August it is above pre-pandemic levels only in Italy, while in Germany it is still down by -11,2% and in France by -5,4%. However, considering the first eight months of 2020 as a whole, the loss of industrial production in Italy is -15,4% compared to 2019; the recovery is therefore expected to be long”.
In this framework, in Lombardy, in September and in the first part of October lhe restart of the economy continues to be buoyant. Some scattered confirm it: Assolombarda cites electricity consumption, which in Lombardy in September is only -3,6% lower than the values of a year ago, just as the traffic of heavy vehicles on the Milan ring roads is only -2% in the first mid-October. However, the traffic of light vehicles on the ring roads (-14% on average for the first two weeks of October) and the mobility of people for work reasons (-22% in Lombardy as of October 15), still far below the pre- Covid also due to the intense use of smart working by local businesses.
As far as smart working is concerned, the focus on the provinces of Milan, Lodi, Monza and Brianza, Paviam reveals that before the lockdown last spring only 28% of companies used smart working: 93% did so during, the 72% are doing it now, and according to Assolombarda 59% will continue to do so in the future, once the pandemic is over. However, the share of employees in smart working is lower: before Covid they were 22%, today they are 42%, of which, however, only a part (12% of the total) who work exclusively remotely. Most (33% of the total) work predominantly remotely, and there is also a 13% who work mainly face-to-face. The majority of workers overall, 58%, do not work in smart working, even if the document is updated to before the new measures of the Dpcm of 25 October.
