Work: big-time resignations and mismatches: where’s the social elevator?
The labour market in Italy seems to be at a turning point: from the digitalization of the 4.0 revolution to Smart working, the huge variation in resignations registered in the last year, when compared to 2019, cannot be explained solely by COVID-19, nor is it entirely the product of progress and evolution. Indeed, the real scenario concealed behind this extensive mobility is not exactly encouraging.
The three-year pandemic essentially halted the labour market, with laws that proscribed dismissals as well as fears about what change would bring in such a critical moment. In order to compare the 2022 trend of companies changing the workforce and reskilling it, we need to look to 2019 and the pre-pandemic: in fact, dismissals have dropped by 50.000 units compared to 2019. Yet dismissals began again at a fast pace over the first months of 2022, with those of an economic or disciplinary nature up 121% and 36% respectively.
In what has been defined as the Great Italian Resignation, another essential fact encapsulates a phenomenon that has a hard impact on the redistribution of human resources. It is the wave of resignations that has overwhelmed the labour market, with 1.080.245 workers deciding to terminate their relationship with their company, not necessarily because of changes linked to the Yolo economy or the idea of changing their lives. Rather, the decision regards the chance to change job, moving within the sphere of the same sector and increasing their salary by as much as 15%.
The main observation that leaps out is the finding that considerable changeability in the market, determined both by manifold vacant positions and by brisk outgoing mobility, does not coincide with a real reskilling of resources, with no ad hoc training programmes provided, not even for positions requiring basic qualifications. This penalizes young people and workers with outdated competences who cannot find a professional placement most of all.
In conclusion, analysis underlines how positive mobility within the market does not go hand in hand with effective worker training, and this obstacle impedes any real growth in competences, creating an insurmountable gap in terms of social elevation.
