Talent shortage drops from 78% to 70% in one year in Italia

Information and technology, hospitality and catering, energy and utilities and industry are the sectors facing the highest level of talent shortage in our country. On average, however, the phenomenon appears to be decreasing in Italy, even though it represents one of the biggest challenges for companies. Even at the beginning of this year, 70 per cent of them are still talking about difficulties in finding the profiles they need. A share that, although still high, is an improvement on the 78 per cent recorded last year. This figure emerges from the new edition of ManpowerGroup's 'Talent Shortage' report, which surveyed over 39,000 employers in 41 countries to take a snapshot of the evolution of the skills required and the strategies adopted to deal with the growing mismatch between demand and supply of qualified professionals.

'Technological development and the evolution of artificial intelligence are accelerating the transformation of work, creating new professions and redefining the skills needed to fill existing roles,' says Anna Gionfriddo, managing director of ManpowerGroup Italia. 'In this scenario, training represents the most effective strategic lever to accompany the growth of people and allow companies to find the professional skills required. Investing in upskilling and reskilling is essential, as is strengthening a structured collaboration between the production world, schools, universities and institutions to anticipate future needs and build training courses capable of responding to the transformation of sectors and skills'.

Considering global data, Italia, with its 70% talent shortage, ranks better than average. In fact, in 2026, 72% of companies around the world will say they have difficulty finding qualified personnel, a slight improvement on the 74% in 2025. The international comparison highlights strong gaps: Slovakia, Greece and Japan record the highest levels of shortage, with percentages ranging from 84% to 87%, while China, Poland and Finland present better scenarios, with values ranging from 48% to 60%. If there is one element that characterises Italia, it is the high level of talent shortage in the sectors most exposed to technological and organisational changes: the talent shortage in the Tech & IT (77%), hospitality and catering (76%), energy and utilities (75%) and industrial (74%) sectors is higher than the national average. The most difficult skills to find are especially those related to digital, especially the application of AI, and those related to industry.

How do our companies take remedial action? Certainly through upskilling and reskilling of people already in the company, as one in four (26%) of those surveyed said. These actions are accompanied by greater flexibility in time and workplace management (17-18%), an increase in temporary staff (15%) and wage increases (14%). There is also investment in the use of Ai and automation to reduce the need for certain tasks in more than one in ten companies (12%).

In this context of rapid change, organisations attach increasing importance to soft skills, which are considered essential to enhance technical competencies. Among the most in demand are communication, collaboration and the ability to work in a team, together with professionalism and work ethics. Adaptability, willingness to learn and the ability to analyse and problem solve are also confirmed as essential for working in contexts characterised by rapid technological change.