Despite the signs of a slowdown in the metalworking industry recorded in June, due to the impact of the war in Ukraine on the increase in energy prices and the procurement of raw materials, companies oriented to hiring prevail in the sector, compared to those that plan to cut staff. . Despite the positive employment levels, however, 71% of companies in the second quarter declared that they encountered difficulties in finding the professional profiles necessary for carrying out the business activity, a percentage far higher than 56% in June 2021.
This is what emerges from the survey presented by Federmeccanica which shows that in the second quarter of mechanical companies, compared with 21% of companies that plan to increase their workforce, 11% expect to have to reduce them. The positive balance is + 11%, down after 25% in the fourth quarter of 2021 and 15% in the first quarter of 2022.
Traditional technical figures are difficult to find
Among the types of skills sought, the most difficult to find are the traditional basic techniques (46.1%), while the digital advanced technological ones and the transversal ones (understood as the ability to solve problems, make decisions, work in groups , communication, autonomy) collected just over 22% of the answers. The remaining 9.6% of companies are looking for professional figures with other specific characteristics (skilled workers).
In the sector, the mismatch was greater than the 43.3% recorded among other companies
In the sample of companies that participated in the Federmeccanica survey, the mismatch, or the difficult meeting between demand and supply of work in mechanics, is therefore greater than that recorded in September by the Excelsior database (Unioncamere and Anpal), according to which the difficulty of finding reported by companies in the various sectors affects 43.3% of scheduled recruitments, an increase of 7 percentage points compared to September 2021 when the lack of matching between job demand and offer concerned 36.4% of the profiles sought .
«And yet – underlines the general manager of Federmeccanica, Stefano Franchi -, in our sector the hiring takes place in industrial realities that allow personal and professional growth and with the protections of the national contract. We discount, among other things, the delays in school orientation and the cuts in the school-work alternation program. There are and obviously resist structural problems in our country that are hard to solve and that only amplify the critical issues in a difficult phase like the one we are experiencing ».