The new year opens with good news for job seekers. I'm more than 508mila le assumptions scheduled by companies for the month of January. If we broaden the horizon to the January-March quarter we even reach 1,3 million new entries. Encouraging figures which represent an increase of 0,9% (+4 thousand hires) in the month and +5,3% (+69 thousand hires) in the quarter. But, the finding difficulty rises to 49,2%, with an increase of 3,7% compared to the previous year. The mismatch between supply and demand it involves 250 thousand positions, with particularly challenging demands for specialists in the life sciences and specialized workers.
It is the photograph taken by Bulletin of the Excelsior Information System, created by Unioncamere in collaboration with Anpal.
The sectors that expect the most hiring
The protagonists of this growth are the services to people, who drive job demand with 70 thousand hirings scheduled in January (+10% compared to the previous year). Next, the sector business (68 thousand units; +13,7% on an annual basis) and of construction (51 thousand units; +1,8%). On the contrary, the andmanufacturing industry show a decline in January, with drops of 12,1% and 2,3% respectively compared to the previous year.
In January, the industrial world expects a total of 172 thousand hires (-1,1% on an annual basis), of which 121.000 in manufacturing industries and public utilities, and the remaining 51 thousand in the construction sector. Services, on the other hand, aim to increase their staff with 336 thousand new hires (+2% on an annual basis).
Above all, those pushing the hiring accelerator are small and medium-sized businesses, with hiring growth forecasts of +3.300 and +3.800 respectively in January 2024. Even the big business (over 250 employees) expect a significant increase of 1.900 hires, while the micro enterprises of the 1-9 employee range expect a decrease of approximately -4.500 hires compared to the corresponding period of 2023.
I fixed-term contracts confirm their predominance, representing 40,5% of the total with approximately 206 thousand units, although down compared to the previous year (41,3%). In contrast, i permanent contracts grew from 122 thousand to 129 thousand (+5,7%).
Hiring: the hardest professions to find
Il mismatch between supply and demand job involves 250 thousand of the 508 thousand hirings scheduled in January, mainly due to the lack of candidates (31,1%), followed by inadequate preparation (14,3%) and other reasons (3,8%). The Excelsior Bulletin highlights the difficulties in finding specialists in the life sciences, workers in the textile and clothing industry, foundries, welders, workers specialized in construction finishing and technicians in the management of the production processes of goods and services.
As regards the educational level, 19% of personnel searches are aimed at graduates (97 thousand units), 30% at diploma holders (155 thousand units) and 32% at those with a professional qualification/diploma (163 thousand units). Around 7 thousand positions are also required for ITS Academy graduates.
18,1% of hires (over 91 thousand) plan to preferentially contact immigrant workers, especially in the sectors of operational services (30,8% of total revenue), logistics (29,1%), accommodation, restaurant and tourism services (24,4%), construction (21%) and industries food, drinks and tobacco (20,6%).
Hiring is strongest in the North, with Lombardy in the lead
At a territorial level, the macro-divisions of Northwest and Northeast are in the lead with a greater number of hires (over 174 thousand and over 118 thousand respectively), followed by the regions of the South (over 110 thousand) and the Center (around 105 thousand). See the regional hiring ranking Lombardia, Lazio, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont and Campania as the regions with the highest number of expected hires.
