The tertiary sector, as a whole, has come out of these very complex years with positive signs. This is said by the Manageritalia tertiary sector Observatory, the organization that represents tertiary sector managers, to which 38 thousand executives are enrolled, from which it emerges that this sector returns to be the driving force of the country in the third quarter of 2021, with an increase in Value Added (VA) of 3.4% on the previous quarter, higher than the national one, stable at 2.6%.
Therefore, “the outsourcing process that in the last 40 years was interrupted only during the pandemic in two quarters between 2020 and 2021”, observes the president of Manageritalia Mario Mantovani.
According to the Observatory’s data, the services produce over 72% of the total VA in the North-West and almost 80% in the Center and South. The lowest share is found in the North-East with two thirds of the total. If we look at the sectors, to drive this positive performance, for the second consecutive quarter, are the accommodation and catering, trade and transport sectors which recorded growth of 8.6%. The arts and entertainment sector continued to decline (- 0.4%), after the rebound in the previous quarter. Rates are positive for all other services.
The analysis of the trends of the last decade before the pandemic shows that the service sector is the only sector with positive average annual growth rates and increasing shares in all macro-areas, regions, even in the South, both in terms of employment and added value, with average employment growth of around 1.5% in the North and Center and less than 1% in the South and islands. Mantovani observes Mantovani that, if we look at the sectors, «there is a phenomenon of overheating in the construction sector which, by absorbing more resources than the other sectors, suffers from a supply and labor gap which is unable to fill demand. The risk is that by continuing with this policy, the structural growth of the entire economy of the country will be blocked, in which the tertiary sector continues to record, without incentives, higher positive values ».
The tertiary sector also in the South «is generally in good health and has excellent potential thanks to administrative, entrepreneurial and managerial skills and competences in some provinces. In order for it to blossom definitively, a development policy is needed for that advanced tertiary sector that also supports industry and tourism in the area, providing skills and management for a common, synergistic and structural growth ”, adds Mantovani.