NAPOLI (ITALPRESS) – The aging of the workforce in Italy is not only a demographic emergency, but a brake on competitiveness, productivity and the digital and sustainable transition of enterprises. It emerges from the latest analysis of Unioncamere and its Center for Paper Studies on the basis of original elaborations and institutional sources, presented during the National Conference of Chambers of Commerce in Paestum. Unioncamere estimates speak clear: companies capable of attracting and retaining talent under 35 mark a +7.2% of productivity and, shows Istat, companies with younger ones run more than others, recording a growth in turnover and higher employment of 1.5 percentage points.
The propensity to make process innovation grows up to the 36 years of average of the employed and that of product up to the 42, and then flench showy. Given the current composition of the workforce, the result is that 60% of Italian companies have already crossed the anagram threshold beyond which the drive to innovate (Istat). Putting stocks in place can reverse the march, making, for example, return to Italy half of young expats, would produce a huge benefit, estimated at 12 billion euros, equal to half point of GDP. “The new generations live with lesser cultural, territorial and social barriers than the past,” said Unioncamere President Andrea Prete. “Thanks to initiatives such as Erasmus, European citizens feel of course. Europe is a concrete space for study, work, opportunities. They compare wages, quality of work, access to innovation and opportunities for growth. It is a profound cultural change, which speaks of a new idea of life, family and personal realization. Valorizing their creativity and capacity for innovation requires a common effort. The Chambers of Commerce are in the field and ready to act as a bridge between enterprises and the training system”.
Over the last twenty years, over 50 employees have doubled (from 20% to around 40%), while the share of under 35 has collapsed from 35% to less than 25% (Cnel). Yet, young people are the real engine of transformation. As the Excelsior Information System, Unioncamere and Ministry of Labour shows, enterprises annually allocate about 28% of contracts that have prevented under 30. But last year, 48% of these positions were considered difficult to cover, mainly (31%) for the absence of candidates. Looking ahead, the scenarios of Excelsior show an objectively delicate situation: between 2026 and 2029, considering the demand of enterprises and public administration and the number of young people coming out of the University, more than 13 thousand Stem graduates per year, especially engineers, economists and doctors. Investing on the new generations would make a leap forward to the wealth produced in the country.
An emblematic case is that of the so-called “straight brains”. In the last decade, young people between 20 and 34 years who have left Italy have almost doubled, from 37 thousand to 70 thousand (+85%) (Eurostat). The value of the human capital migrated between 2011 and 2024 is equal to 159,5 billion euros (7.5 % of national GDP) (Cnel). It is not just a demographic loss: it is a loss of energy, skills and future. Today in Italy, 8 young people emigrate every thousand, more than double Germany and more than Spain (Eurostat). Unioncamere estimates show that if only half of the 20-34-year-old emigrated over the last five years (just over 250 thousand), an economic impact of up to 12 billion euros would be generated, equal to about half a point of GDP.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
