The shortage of manpower is now a chronic phenomenon whose cost, given the dynamics of the labor market, is becoming exorbitant. In the case of Italy, the figure is 15 billion, according to what emerges from a study conducted by BCG, in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) “Migration Matters: A Human Cause with a $20 Trillion Business Case” which investigates the phenomenon of migration as a possible factor of growth and development.
Almost half of the recruitments difficult to find
For our country, the shortage of manpower is also confirmed by the latest Unioncamere Anpal data, obtained through the Excelsior information system: in January companies are looking for over half a million workers (504 thousand), but the difficulty of finding personnel is growing which rose from 38.6% last January to 45.6% this year.
The migration strategy
The BCG study highlights that migration can represent a valuable if not essential competitive advantage for companies in Italy and around the world, but «the paradigm of migration needs to be changed – explains Johann Harnoss, partner and associate director for Innovation at BCG -. In fact, for companies, migration can represent an essential competitive advantage: what today is an opportunity cost of over 1,000 billion dollars, by 2050 could turn into a 20,000 billion dollar opportunity». Hence the importance for companies to welcome talent from all over the world which could lead to an increase in corporate profitability of about 15% and increase the probability of innovating worldwide by 75%. To achieve this, BCG and IOM propose to the business world a strategy that takes into account 3 main factors: the attraction of talent on a global level, the ability to implement innovation on a global scale and the protection of human rights.
Immigration to Italy
According to BCG findings, there are around 6.4 million immigrants in Italy, 10% of the country’s total population. And if currently more than half of the Italian population is of working age (15-64 years), by 2050, given the dynamics generated by the demographic winter, the numbers could drop dramatically. Already by the end of the new year, in fact, it is estimated that the population of working age will drop by around 7% and by 2050 this percentage will reach as much as -28%. Given that the labor shortage costs Italy around $15 billion each year (2022), talent from other countries can also prove to be a valuable resource for the country’s economy.
The international framework
More than 280 million people – 3.6% of the world‘s population – live in countries other than where they were born. The main destination, in the last 50 years, has been the United States: in 2020 they hosted more than 50 million immigrants, followed by Germany (16 million) and Saudi Arabia (13 million). Of these, about 169 million were workers, of whom 70 million were women. According to another survey conducted by BCG (When innovation has no borders, culture is key), among the CEOs of companies in ten countries in the main regions of the world, 72% of them believe that “migration is positive for development of the country», contrary to what is believed by 41% of the public opinion of these countries. However, while 95% of CEOs say they want to build more diverse teams globally, only 5% adopt strategies to succeed and have a long-term impact. On the other hand, the main social concerns of business leaders are currently five, namely: global poverty, climate and sustainability, geopolitical stability, training and digitization. The phenomenon of migration therefore does not appear among these and this means that “despite the undeniable contribution of migrants to global economies, there is still much to be done to support their rights and fully exploit their potential”, interprets Ugochi Daniels, Deputy Director General of IOM. “Investing in safe, orderly and dignified migration is not only the right thing to do, but also the smartest,” he adds.