Until 2026, the Pnrr will bring three billion and 950 million euros to Sardinia. The treasure is divided into six different assets which, according to financial analysts, will lead to an increase in employment in the construction sector, with a "peak expected in 2025". The numbers are contained in "Economia della Sardinia", the annual report from Bank of Italy which also put the market dynamics linked to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan under the microscope. The connection between Pnrr and construction can be seen just by reading the titles of the six missions into which the 3.95 billion of investments are divided: in each block of projects there are interventions of an infrastructural nature which embrace both the sphere of public works and the private productive world.
The most substantial asset is number 2, which is in turn split into four components, as the sub-articulations of the missions are technically called. The total value is 1.113 billion, of which 564 million are intended for the protection of the territory and water resources.
Then here are the 356 million that will finance interventions on renewable energy and hydrogen , but also on the network and sustainable mobility. For energy efficiency and the redevelopment of buildings , Sardinia has been allocated 71 million. On the other hand, resources for sustainable agriculture and the circular economy amount to 122 million. Again in order of size, the second most financially significant asset is worth 714 million euros, between investments in the railway network (535) and those dedicated to intermodality and integrated logistics (179). This is mission number 3, which also includes buildings. Here again are the 580 million for digitalisation and innovation : the resources, ascribed to mission number 1, are divided between investments in public administration , equal to 102 million, and interventions to be carried out in the business world, for an amount of another 406 million.
Mission number 5, worth 579 million, is structured as follows: 86 will go to employment policies ; 375 to social infrastructures , families, communities and the third sector; 28 to special interventions for territorial cohesion. Finally, the 475 million of mission 6 which provides for an almost Solomonic distribution between proximity networks for local healthcare through telemedicine (218 million) and research and digitalisation of public medical services (257 million). Fabio Mereu, president of Confartigianato Sud Sardegna , reasons on the peak of employment , expected on the island in two years. «We are optimistic and we are working to ensure that the positive data from Bank of Italy on the forecast for 2025 is realistic», he says, looking at the overall opportunities offered by the Pnrr. However, as an expert on the internal dynamics of small businesses, which make up the majority of Confartigianato members, Mereu makes some distinctions: «The construction bonuses have had an excellent impact on our world, because the management of the orders has been direct. Those who redeveloped their homes directly contacted private market operators, including artisans, who were able to respond to the demand." With Pnrr funds the dynamics will be different, according to the president of the trade association. «It cannot be ignored – continues Mereu – that the majority of the resources allocated through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan pass through public tenders, in which large companies start from an objective advantageous condition, given that they have an organizational capacity superior".
In any case, the number one of Confartigianato Sud Sardegna tries to look at the glass half full: «We hope that small businesses like ours can take advantage of the favorable situation determined by the Pnrr and stay in the public tender market. Perhaps with subcontracts, being very careful that they are of quality, thus avoiding the downward exploitation too often imposed by large companies". Certainly, for artisans the Pnnr business will have "significantly lower returns than the revenue generated by building bonuses" , although not even 110% was free from problems. «Think – continues Mereu – of the difficulties linked to the inclusion of the tax credit in the tax collections of companies or the very strong increase in the prices of raw materials determined precisely by the Super bonus». In short, as in every economic phase, even with the resources of the Pnrr there will be lights and shadows, including the not negligible "lack of attractiveness that the construction sector has for young people". The president of Confartigianato Sud Sardegna concludes: «On paper there are opportunities not only for small businesses operating in the construction sector, but also for those active in related clusters».
Bank of Italy estimates, for 2025, 9.2 percent more employees than in 2019, which will be equivalent to 2,500 paychecks. Analysts specify that these are "employed workers", therefore new contracts stipulated by contracting companies to deal with the interventions of the Pnrr. «The demand for workers generated in Sardinia by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan would be concentrated on the professional figures of specialized workers, equal to 55 percent – we read further in the Bankitalia report -. Simple workers would be a fifth." Analysts have also hypothesized a possible recruitment channel, demonstrating how significant the concern expressed by the president of Confartigianato Sud Sardegna is about the lack of appeal that construction has among young people. «The procurement of the workers necessary for the activities envisaged by the Pnrr - we read again in the Bankitalia report - could take place through various channels. First of all, by using part of the workforce hired for redevelopment activities of residential properties connected with tax incentives, should this impulse fade." As will in fact happen in 2024 when, for example, 110% disappears, by decision of the Meloni Government. Still on the recruitment of skilled and non-skilled workers, the analysts underline: «Companies could also draw from the pool of people looking for work or inactive but available to work, especially if they have previous experience in construction». Bank of Italy has counted them: «In 2021 they were equal to just under 12 thousand, a value significantly higher than the estimated additional labor demand» for 2025, equal to 2,500 units.
Then there is the aspect strictly linked to migratory phenomena linked to the search for a job. «The need» for new workers in the construction sector «could help retain sector workers in Sardinia who would otherwise go to work outside.
Finally - they put it in black and white from Bank of Italy - we could resort to hiring workers from other sectors". However, one fact must be taken into consideration, equally highlighted by economic analysts: the demand for labor will concern all regions, "potentially acting in competition with the requests expressed by the construction sector in Sardinia". The fact remains that Bankitalia has no doubts that employment will experience a new phase of expansion.
