The shortage of workers on the market, with the growing difficulty that companies encounter in finding the profiles they need, is becoming a national emergency: in June 2022, out of almost 560 thousand expected jobs, 219 thousand (39.2%) were difficult to find. In the same month of 2019, the value stood at 25.6%. The shortage of candidates grew (23.7% compared to 12.2% in 2019), while the share of companies that associate the difficulty of finding them with inadequate preparation of the same remained similar (about 11%).
This is what emerges from the research “The work that exists, the workers who are not there” carried out by the Foundation studies of labor consultants and illustrated in Bologna on the occasion of the press conference for the presentation of the 2022 Labor Festival. Pharmacists, biologists and specialists in the life sciences and doctors have become increasingly difficult to find on the labor market.
Fewer and fewer are looking for work, even among immigrants
To weigh are several factors, starting from the demographic decline. Between 2018 and 2021, the population of working age, aged 15 to 64 years, decreased by measure, with a loss of 636 thousand residents (-1.7%) of which 262 thousand under 35 years of age (-2.1 %). To this has been added an internal recomposition of this slice of the population: the active component of those who have a job and look for it has decreased (-831 thousand for a decrease of 3.3%) and, on the other hand, the number of those who are not looking for work or are discouraged to do so (+ 194 thousand, for an increase of 1.5%).
According to the consultants, this is an important data, which certifies a more general phenomenon of removal from work, produced by various causes, including the refusal of low-paying jobs, the growth of forms of irregular work, the increase in the number of recipients of public subsidies during the pandemic or, more simply, a revision of life priorities in the post-pandemic, which has led to a different view of work in people’s lives. Even among the traditionally most vital components, such as immigrants, the same tendencies are found, in an even more marked form. Faced, in fact, with a growth in the population of foreign origin of active age (+ 1.6%), the workforce decreased by 3.5%, while the area of inactivity grew exponentially (+14.4 %).
Wanted pharmacists and doctors
Pharmacists, biologists and specialists in the life sciences on the one hand and doctors on the other are among the increasingly difficult profiles to find on the job market: for both these professional groups, considered unavailable by 76.1% and 63 respectively, 2% of companies, the shortage rate on the market grew by almost 50 percentage points compared to 2019. Thereafter, healthcare and social services technicians see competitiveness on the market grow significantly: 54.6% of profiles are unavailable , but in 2019 the percentage stood at 32.4%.