Industry and construction keep the Savona economy afloat during the pandemic. This is confirmed by the analysis of the economic data of the last decade, presented by the Industrial Union of Savona, which highlights the driving factor of the industrial sector on the provincial territory, despite the persistence of the Covid crisis. To illustrate the data were the president of the association, Angelo Berlangieri, and the director, Alessandro Berta.
Despite the many difficulties linked to the crisis, the consequences of the pandemic and the closures of the first months, they explained, 2020 turns out to be the year (after 2019) with the second best performance of the last decade. In fact, in 2020, the report reads, the total number of employees – employees and self-employed – employed by the sector, taking into account the consequences of the pandemic and the closures at the beginning of the year, it was about 16 thousand (of which a thousand independent, 15 thousand employees) which rises to 24 thousand with construction.
In short, compared to 2019, a total of about 2 thousand fewer workers in industry (one thousand in the self-employed, one thousand in the employees), partially offset by the increase in construction, however confirming the numbers of 2018 where, moreover, the independents were 2 thousand and 14 thousand employees.
Industry drives employment
Important numbers if compared with the statistics of the last 10 years: in 2012, the report also reads, the Savona industry had 10,000 employees, of which 2,000 independent. “From the analysis of the data – said Berta – it clearly emerges that industry has driven employment, also revealing itself as the sector which, even in a period of crisis, has supported the province”.
Forecasts 2021, he continued, “they promise a rebound for industry and a further rise for construction, but the data have not yet stabilized and this does not allow us to give certainty on the total numbers of employment. Certainly, a good part of the workers who left the sector due to the non-renewal of fixed-term contracts are reabsorbed, albeit slowly due to the persistence of the pandemic, energy prices and the rush of raw materials costs, thanks to orders that have returned to grow, although not in all sectors “.