‘The biggest challenge facing the country stems from the decline in the population’

‘Generally speaking, with regard to the gaps in the labour market, I would also be cautiously optimistic. Were it not for the birth rate crisis, which risks undermining every other positive response and which must therefore become the top item on the political agenda.’ According to Riccardo Di Stefano, Vice-President of Confindustria for Education and Open Innovation, bridging the gap between supply and demand is possible by working to make the country more attractive to international students and by attempting to revitalise the image of manufacturing, even though the demographic situation presents an increasingly heavy ‘burden’ year after year.

“The system as a whole is trying to respond,” he explains, “but it is clear that, in the long term, a change of direction is needed. In the meantime, it is important to note, for example, how companies have set up hundreds of in-house Academies: faced with such rapid change, it is clear that schools and universities are not enough; the fact that the ‘last mile’ of training falls to the company is now an established fact.”

Manufacturing companies which, according to Di Stefano, can offer young people interesting career paths, despite the negative stereotypes. ‘The industry needs to be portrayed in the light of the changes it is undergoing,’ he explains, ‘and it is very different from how it is perceived in the collective imagination: it is a world where cutting-edge technologies are developed, fully integrated into the dual digital and green transition. And that is why the ‘hunger’ for STEM profiles is growing: the demand for these graduates is approaching 700,000, and in 50 per cent of cases these are positions that are difficult to fill’. Another key issue concerns the brain drain of young people, which is gradually depleting the domestic pool from which to recruit. “It must be said, however, that in a phase such as the current one, characterised by low productivity and slow income growth, industry undoubtedly offers higher salaries than other sectors. Remuneration which, in my view, is just one factor – not the only one – for young people entering the labour market for the first time. Young people are looking, first and foremost, for prospects for growth, a career path that will stimulate them. Then, of course, the level of taxation and social security contributions is very high, and this should prompt some serious reflection. But as well as worrying about the ‘brain drain’ of young people abroad, we should also ask ourselves why we are so poor at attracting students from abroad. We really ought to be doing much better in this respect.’