In Lombardia over 80% of companies active in industry or services are expected to close 2021 with a balance sheet in profit or in balance. The figure is up compared to 2020, sunk by the lockdowns, but still more than 6 percentage points lower than the average of the pre-pandemic three-year period. This is what emerges from a survey by the Bank of Italy presented on Friday in Milan. Via Nazionale also informs that in the first half the region's GDP grew by 7% every year.
On the work front, however, 25,4% of companies Lombard estimate of increase employment by the end of the year, while 18,5% foresee a reduction in the workforce. According to the survey, employment in Lombardy decreased on average in the first half of the year, but the conditions of the labor market then improved in parallel with the gradual removal of restrictions on economic activities and the recovery of GDP.
Starting from the second quarter, notes Bank of Italy, employment has started to grow again and "the balance of activations of employment contracts returned positive; the use of wage integration measures has gradually decreased, although remaining at high levels”. The recovery of activity has therefore stimulated the search for work, causing a decrease in the inactivity rate and an increase in the unemployment rate.
Between January and August, continues the Bank of Italy, the balance between activations and terminations of employment relationships was positive by almost 66 thousand units, exceeding the value recorded in the same period two years ago (+49 thousand). Driving the recovery are, as always, i fixed-term employment contracts. Yet, despite the halt to the blocking of layoffs from 2021 July 2019, the number of terminations of permanent contracts remained limited, in line with XNUMX levels, due to the recovery and the favorable conditions guaranteed by social safety nets.
Finally, the companies of Lombardy for the coming months expect a further one reduction of workers in smart working. "During the year, the use of remote working would have decreased: in the first three quarters of 2021, for most companies, remote working would have involved less than 20% of the team - reads the report - In the coming months companies they envisage, in the absence of restrictions on mobility and the hypothesis of a low circulation of the virus, a further reduction of workers who carry out their activities remotely".
