Continuous training crucial, over one billion with New Skills Fund 3

More than one billion euro per year for the continuing training of companies. This is how much funding is available through the Nuove Competenze Fund, the third edition that - and this is a novelty - is also aimed at training chains and systems "to ensure that small and very small enterprises can access them". Providing the overview is Massimo Temussi, director general of the Ministry of Labour, who emphasises how important it is, at a time when the mismatch between supply and demand remains high, to invest in new skills.

Looking at the latest numbers, the latest refinancing of the New Skills Fund 3 with EUR 318.8 million, provided for by Directorate Decree No. 243 of 23 May 2025, made it possible to admit for evaluation all the applications submitted by supply chains and training systems and to double the availability for individual companies. Therefore, the list of 13,046 applications admitted for project evaluation for funding was updated, which includes 1,921 companies organised in supply chains, 857 training systems and 10,268 applications from individual employers. Also benefiting from the training projects will be 887 people in whom companies invest in the very early stages of the employment relationship: people who have been unemployed for at least one year and have been hired with an open-ended contract or apprenticeship or newly hired in the field of higher education and research or admitted to training for subsequent employment. An approach of the Fund that 'confirms itself as the answer to the need to train and update workers,' said Marina Elvira Calderone, Minister of Labour and Social Policies. 'The presence,' she added, 'of such a wide range of proposals submitted by supply chains and training systems, moreover, I believe, is an important sign of the desire to enhance talent and promote networks between companies in a structural manner. The Nuove Competenze 3 Fund is an alliance between the state and businesses for skills training in those many productive sectors that have distinguished Italy in the world for their excellence and in all the other areas emerging due to the great transitions of our time'.

Historic employment record, but mismatch grows

The third edition of the New Skills Fund, continues Temussi, 'went very well, beyond expectations, a sign that continuous training is high on the Ministry's agenda. On the other hand, in Italy we have a historical employment record since 2007 but a growing mismatch. The training system is not producing the necessary skills'. In this context, 'continuous training has soared and the collection of interprofessional funds has risen from 550 million to 800 million. It is significant that companies are asking for continuous training'.

The strength of the New Skills Fund 3, in addition to the innovations concerning training systems and supply chains, "is the fact that it allows new hires. Then, thanks to the access to the solutions of the training systems and supply chains, even small or very small companies in the supply chain can update their skills, taking advantage of the economy of scale'.