Le subsidiaries Italians seem in good health. In 2021, there are 7.808 economic units in the public sector, 2% less than in 2020, and they employ almost 925 thousand employees, 1,8% more than the previous year. The increase particularly affects companies with minority shareholdings (shares up to 20%). These are the numbers contained in the report "Public-owned companies in Italy" published by'Istat.
The study highlights how of the 7.808 economic units with public participation, 5.697 are active companies operating in theindustry and services and they employ 95,8% of the employees. If the analysis is further restricted to controlled companies only, they can be identified 3.517 active publicly controlled companies, for a total of 586.574 employees.
Istat also highlights that the average labor productivity (added value per employee) of the public subsidiaries increases by 13,2% and is equal to 107.417 euros compared to the 52.600 euros of the national total in the Industry and Services sector. This is also in consideration of their larger average size.
The photograph taken by the National Institute of Statistics shows homogeneous data, but existing territorial differences must also be considered. Italy, in this respect, is not yet united. However, it is, for the politics that he is preparing to carry out 500 nominations in all state-owned companies. Ritual, repetitive and bipartisan operation without borders. The Italian public administration has always influenced the management of services, used as a consensus machine. Beyond the statistics, politics has collected failures and successes.
There is no shortage of territorial disparities
“Companies owned by the Public Administration have an isignificant impact on competitiveness territorial and on the quality of life of people operating in crucial sectors", they say Ivo Allegro e Melina Nappi of the Italian Observatory on Public Shareholdings. There are disparity in performance which impact on Italian territorial gaps. The Istat data are from 2021 and the Observatory studied them together with the consultancy company "Iniziativa". In the changing industrial world, these companies must also accept the challenges, even more so due to the environmental effects, quality of life, health and mobility.
The very composite picture reflects different situations. A true point is that in the management of services the investee companies have been facilitated by new Public Contracts Code. But it would be guilty to overlook it critics or inefficiencies that nevertheless occur. Let's talk about services en casa which cannot be life insurance for the companies that hold them.
The Mef controls 52,2% of the employees of publicly controlled companies
In this panorama the Ministry of Economy is the most relevant body: controls over 52,2% of the total employees of publicly controlled companies. The Provinces, Metropolitan Cities and Municipalities in turn control 1.456 companies (41,4% of public subsidiaries) which employ over 130 thousand workers.
Istat data constitute a basis for improve. The Observatory says that there is a need for a system of indicators to evaluate the performance and social value generated by companies. An experiment was started in Bolzano to evaluate above all the level of territorial sustainability. It is not known whether the experimentation will be extended to other areas. At this point it would also be interesting to evaluate who is put in charge of such essential structures. But maybe that's too much to ask.
Demonstration of how efficient public management is unrivaled. We hope to continue like this