In Sardinia it is increasingly difficult to find qualified workers. This is the alarm raised by the island's artisan businesses according to which there are more than 8 thousand workers missing but 21.4% of young people are inactive.
In 2023, Sardinian companies, according to data from the Confartigianato Sardegna Research Office based on UnionCamere-Anpal-Excelsior 2023, were unable to find 42% of the necessary manpower, equal to 64,170 positions left unfilled.
The worst situation concerns the small businesses which had difficulty hiring 42.9% of the staff (48,030 workers), and the artisans whose share of unobtainable workers reached 50.7% (8,170 workers).
«The shortage of personnel with the right skills slows down the ecological and digital transitions and is indicated as the most serious problem by 58.1% of SMEs in our region, compared to 54.1% of the average of SMEs in the EU – they say Fabio Mereu and Daniele Serra, president and secretary of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna - for our companies the difficulty in finding qualified workers far outweighs the problems of bureaucracy, access to credit and unfair competition".
«The main reasons for this situation are the demographic crisis, determined by the birth rate and aging, and then the educational path: 12% of the available candidates demonstrate an inadequate scholastic preparation, while almost 30% of the available places find it with difficulty, or not finds precisely those who occupy them - adds President Mereu - then there are the inactive young people, 21.4% of young people between 14 and 29 years old, that is, young Sardinians who do not study and are not available to work, for family reasons, due to discouragement in looking for work, delay in university studies, public subsidies. And of course there is also undeclared work."
The delay in finding the right people to hire generates costs that for small businesses on the island are around 206 million euros.
«In this ranking, our small businesses bear costs deriving from long waiting times and the lack of manpower - continues Secretary Serra - in particular, it is the companies in the old province of Cagliari that pay the most expensive bill, with over 107 million euros of otherwise voidable charges, if in the presence of trained professionals ready to be hired; followed by the old province of Sassari with 70 million, Nuoro with 18 and Oristano with 10".
«To fill the gap between job supply and demand – continue Mereu and Serra – we need to start from schools, of all levels, which must learn to teach the "culture of work", mixing knowledge and know-how, overcoming the historical separation between humanistic education and technical education to truly prepare children to face a constantly evolving world."
THE REACTIONS - Two out of three small businesses (66.0%), underlines Confartigianato, «have adopted interventions to attract and/or retain qualified personnel. Salary increases are more widespread, chosen by 32.6% of small businesses, and flexibility in working hours, recorded in 28.5% of cases. Furthermore, companies adopt the granting of greater autonomy at work in 19.4% of cases, involvement in company decisions in 13.4% of cases, access to company benefits (company car, concessions in the use of services, insurance personal, etc.) in 12.9% of cases, and incentives for self-training and professional growth activities, even external to the company, in 11.4% of cases". And, again, 24.9% of companies have activated or intensified collaboration with schools, in particular those schools with a technical and professional orientation.
PROFESSIONS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO FIND - The data say that more than two out of three workers are difficult to find for software analysts and designers with 77.6%, plumbers and installers of hydraulic and gas pipes with 75.8%, machine toolmakers tools with 73.8%, electric welding and ASME standard welding specialists with 73.4%, artisan mechanics, car repairers with 73.0%, industrial automatic and semi-automatic machine tool workers with 71.8%, application expert technicians with 70 .3%, construction site management technicians with 69.7%, programmer technicians with 69.4%, electricians in civil construction with 68.7%, assemblers and cablers of electrical equipment with 68.7%, assemblers of metal carpentry with 66.9%, workers employed in mechanical looms for weaving and knitting with 66.7% and civil engineers with 66.6%.
Furthermore, more than one worker in two is difficult to find from the activity for installers and repairers of electrical and electromechanical equipment with 65.1%, carpenters and toolmakers of woodworking machines with 64.7%, carpenters and carpenters in construction with 64.7%, earthmoving machinery operators with 63.5%, pastry chefs, ice cream makers and artisan canners with 62.8%, industrial designers with 62.3%, mechanics and assemblers of industrial machinery with 62.1% , taxi drivers, drivers of cars, vans and other vehicles with 60.3%, workers employed in fabric clothing manufacturing machinery with 58.3%, drivers of heavy vehicles and trucks with 57.6%, beauticians and make-up artists with 56, 8%, hairdressers with 55.7%, mass assemblers of machine parts with 54%, stone, brick and refractory masons with 53.8%, industrial and management engineers with 53.2% and sales and distribution technicians with 51.9%.
(Unioneonline/ss)