In March, companies should activate 292 employment contracts, 59 more than in the same month of 2020 and 88 less than in March 2019, when the economy had not yet entered the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Between March and May instead, the planned recruitments are 923 in total, therefore a sign that some slight improvements are beginning to be seen, but there is still a long way to go. This is what the monthly bulletin of the Excelsior information system shows, produced by Unioncamere and Anpal.
The report points out the reduction in the demand for labor compared to 2019, above all for the tertiary sector (-79 thousand) and in particular for the tourism chain (-50 thousand planned revenues). Only construction and ICT are showing clear signs of recovery, exceeding the level of hiring recorded in March of the previous two years.
As for the predictions related to March "in a scenario still characterized by the restrictions for Covid and by the uncertainty linked to the progress of the vaccination campaign", underline Unioncamere and Anpal, the various industrial sectors expect over 110 thousand admissions (+39 thousand compared to March 2020). However, the greatest opportunities come from those manufacturing sectors for which companies see positive prospects for foreign demand, above all thanks to China, the United States and Germany: this is the case of metallurgy and metal products (+6.800 expected revenues compared to March 2020), mechatronics (+4.800), fashion (+3.000) and pharmaceutical and biomedical (+2.000). The remains high mismatch (32% on average), i.e. the gap existing between the offers on the market and the skills of the workers, particularly in the search for profiles for the IT systems (58,7%), Design and R&D (48,3%) business areas 44,1%) and Installation and maintenance (XNUMX%).
Ma what are companies looking for? According to the Excelsior bulletin, the most requested figures are skilled workers (59) followed by plant operators and fixed and mobile machinery workers (47). In comparison with the same months of 2020 and 2019, demand is growing especially for more highly specialized professions (22).
They hire less micro-enterprises with 1-9 employees who, compared to March 2019, will hire 39 thousand fewer people, while big companies (over 250 employees) are very close to pre-Covid levels (-2 thousand revenues).
Under the territorial profile the negative situation in which the Southern regions still find themselves should be underlined with a drop in revenues both compared to March 2019 and March 2020 (-28,2% and -1,7% respectively), due in part to the crisis in the supply chain tourism which also affects trends in the central regions. Signs of a more rapid recovery are observed, however, for all the regions of the North West (in particular for Lombardy) followed by the regions of the North East.
