The latest alarm on the difficulty of recovering professional figures came from Confitarma. The Italian Confederation of Shipowners has highlighted that there is a lack of Italian officers and engine managers possessing the skills required by the most modern technologies on board.
An indication that came a few days after the publication by Unioncamere and Anpal of the Bulletin of the Excelsior Information System, a document that provided detailed information on the so-called “mismatch” between job supply and demand. The current economic situation, is the scenario outlined, shows an ever greater deviation, both for highly specialized professions and for skilled workers. According to Excelsior, the phenomenon refers above all to demographic problems and inefficient professional orientation (the lack of candidates for certain profiles and with specific work experience).
The imbalance between deck officers (many) and engine officers (few)
On the occasion of the first meeting of the Confitarma Technical Group “Education and Human Capital”, emphasis was placed on the shortage of Italian seafarers. A problem that concerns some important qualifications on board and, in particular, a strong imbalance between the offer of deck officers and that of engine officers. Out of the total number of students graduating from nautical institutes, two thirds choose the covered option and only one third choose the car option. The request is to start specific information and guidance projects, right from middle school and in the early years of nautical institutes, so as to spread the knowledge of maritime careers among the new generations. It is also necessary to highlight the career opportunities on board and on land that ITS of the sea can offer to young people.
The context: growing demand for work
But the Unioncamere – Anpal report, which provides some insights, outlines the difficulty of bringing supply and demand together in this phase of recovery. The context is that of a growing demand for work in industry as well as in services, albeit with different degrees: expectations for tourism and catering are more cautious after the significant recovery in the summer months (-13.2% compared to October 2019), while greater confidence emerges from the culture and entertainment chain and, in general, services to people (+ 19.6%) also thanks to the recent reopening.
The difficulty in finding skilled workers
In this context, the percentage of recruitments for which companies declare difficulty in finding stands at 36.5% (+5 percentage points compared to October 2019), above all due to the lack of professional figures sought by companies. Overall, the mismatch rises to 51.5% for skilled workers, 41.8% for technical professions and 40.6% for managers and intellectual and scientific professions. The greatest difficulties in finding are the companies metallurgical and metal products (52.9%) difficulty which rises to 64.1% for the recruitment of blacksmiths, tool makers and similar and to 61.9% for founders, welders, tinsmiths, boiler makers, carpentry fitters. The mismatch reported by the companies of the buildings (48.7%) above all for artisans and skilled workers involved in construction finishing (61.5%), and by IT services and communications (47.8%) for which the greatest difficulties are encountered for specialists in mathematical and computer sciences (61.7%) and for computer, telematic and telecommunications technicians (54.3%). Consistently with the professional figures, the company areas with the highest mismatch are information systems (57.6%), design and research (51.0%), installation and maintenance (52.3%).