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".
