Bankruptcies drop and new businesses are born. Here is the state of health of Italy struggling with the recovery to bring the country back to pre-pandemic levels from Covid. The data released by Istat this morning relating to the second quarter of this year, highlight a situation in clear recovery.
In the second quarter of 2021, the registrations of new businesses show a further economic increase (+ 3.2%), after that of the previous quarter. Again on a cyclical basis, bankruptcies decreased by 8.9% compared to the first quarter, after the rise recorded in the previous quarters. Net of seasonality, the new registrations exceeded the pre-crisis levels (ie 2019) “only in the construction, information and communication services and financial, real estate and professional activities” sectors.
Who pays the highest price
The hospitality and catering establishments pay the highest price of the crisis. In the second quarter of this year, registrations of new businesses, which are still 40.6% lower than the average level of 2019, recorded a cyclical decline of 5.7%, largely canceling out the positive result of the previous quarter. Transport services were also heavily penalized, down by 5.7% and whose levels were 23.2% lower than the average of 2019. Compared to the first quarter of the year, the number of bankruptcy procedures is reduced in all sectors. They are increasing only in health services, assistance, education, entertainment and personal care, where they rise by 3.9%.
Bankruptcies in decline
In the second quarter of 2021, new business registrations amounted to 78,260 and bankruptcies 2,380. The Istat report “Business demography”, underlines that “signs of recovery are emerging for registrations after the collapse of 2020 and a decline in bankruptcies after months of recovery”. For bankruptcies, also at levels below the average of 2019, there is a decline, after the increases of the previous two quarters.
The reduction in bankruptcies, in particular, highlights Istat, is generalized: the number of bankruptcy procedures is reduced in all sectors, while they are increasing only in health services, assistance, education, entertainment and personal care, where they rise by 3.9%. “The sharp reduction in bankruptcies in the second quarter is connected, in particular, to the so-called Liquidity Decree – it is explained -, which entered into force on April 9, 2020, which administratively blocked the possibility of declaring bankruptcy and the status of insolvency. With the expiration of this constraint and with the reopening of the administrative courts, bankruptcies marked an immediate rebound, which continued in the fourth quarter. A similar dynamic, although less pronounced, characterized the recordings in the same period ».
New jobs
The companies intend to make 526 thousand hires in September, and looking at the type of contracts, the demand for work – as shown by the Bulletin of the Excelsior Information System, created by Unioncamere and Anpal – appears mainly driven by fixed-term contracts with 275 thousand units, equal to 52.3% of planned revenues. This is followed by permanent contracts (109 thousand), administration contracts (49 thousand), other employee contracts (37 thousand), apprenticeship contracts (28 thousand), other employee contracts (18 thousand) and collaboration contracts (10 thousand). .