In the month of May 2025, the iItalian companies provide 528 thousand new hires, with an overall demand that is close to 1,7 million admissions in the May-July quarter. This is a significant increase compared to the previous year: +35 thousand places (+7%) on a monthly basis and +70 thousand (+4,4%) on the same quarter of 2024. With 161 thousand contracts expected in May, theSouthern area and Islands confirms itself as the most lively in terms of employment growth. Followed by the North-West, North-East and Center.
The employment picture is outlined by the Monthly bulletin of the Excelsior information system, realized by Unioncamere and the Ministry of Labour, within the framework of the National Programme “Youth, Women and Work”, co-financed by the European Union.
Services booming, industry slightly down
The main driver of growth is represented by the service sector, with 394 thousand hires in May and over 1,2 million in the quarter, up 10,4% compared to 2024. The tourism sector stands out, which alone absorbs 147 thousand profiles in May and 446 thousand by July. They are followed by trade (71 thousand monthly, 229 thousand in the quarter) and personal services (58 thousand and 200 thousand).
On the contrary, theindustry the offer a slight decline of hiring, with 134 thousand new entries expected in May (-2%) and 412 thousand in the quarter. In particular, the manufacturing records a slight decline: 84 thousand jobs in May (-2,2%) and 263 thousand in the quarter (+0,3%).
In the industrial sector, demand is mainly concentrated on mechatronics, metallurgy e agri-food. In May, 19 thousand contracts are expected in mechatronics, 15 thousand in metallurgy and 14 thousand in agri-food, with 58 thousand, 46 thousand and 55 thousand entries respectively in the May-July quarter. construction show more uncertain signals: 51 thousand hires in May (-1,5%) and almost 150 thousand in the quarter (+1,2%).
Difficulty finding: 1 profile out of 2 unfindable
Businesses continue to face significant difficulty in finding profiles requested, with 248 thousand positions, equal to 47% of the total, which are difficult to fill mainly due to the lack of candidates. Among the most difficult to find roles are engineers, for which the mismatch reaches 62,8%, and the specialists in management and banking sciences, with 45,3%. Even more marked are the difficulties for the runners engineering, with 69,9% of positions difficult to fill, and for the health technicians, at 66,5%. Even the operators in the aesthetic field and qualified health personnel are often untraceable, respectively at 69,3% and 56%. Among the workers specialized, mechanics, maintenance workers, construction workers and welders record the highest levels of difficulty, with percentages ranging between 70,8% and 72,6%. The greatest problems emerge in the North East, where almost half of the open positions remain unfilled (49,4%), followed by the North West and the Centre with 47,7%, while in the South and the Islands the share stands at 44%.
Among the contractual forms, the most prevalent is fixed term, which concerns 327 thousand hires (61,8% of the total), followed by permanent contracts (89 thousand, 16,8%).
The role of foreign labor
Italian companies plan to resort to foreign labor for 18,4% of total hiring. The use of workers immigrants It is particularly widespread in business and personal support services, where it represents 32,5% of the expected hiring, followed by the transport and logistics sectors with 26,7%, agri-food with 22,6%, metallurgy with 21,6% and construction with 20,4%.
