A March laugh inItalian companies provide over 456 thousand hiresWhile in March-May quarter the number goes up to more than 1,4 million. Compared to 2024, there was an increase of 9.000 jobs (+1,9%) in the month and 39 more (+2,8%) in the quarter. Driving the growth is the service sector, with an increase in hiring of +3,8% in March and +4,8% in the quarter. In particular, the marks a boom with +14,5% in the month and +12,7% in the quarter, followed by operational services (+9,3% and +10,2%). The sector of construction, which recorded a slight growth in March (+1,2%) but a decrease in the quarter (-0,5%). In difficulty instead is the manufacturing, with a drop in hiring of -4,2% in March and -3,4% in the quarter.
This is what emerges from the Bulletin of the Excelsior information system, realized by Unioncamere e Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, thanks to the National Programme Youth, Women and Work co-financed by the European Union, which draws up employment forecasts for the month of March.
Industry and service jobs: the most sought-after roles
The industry as a whole seeks approximately 132 thousand workers in March and nearly 387 thousand in the quarter. The manufacturing in particular, it foresees the search for almost 82 thousand workers in the month and 241 thousand in the quarter, with the greatest opportunities in the sectors of mechatronics (over 20 thousand in the month and 58 thousand in the quarter), of the industry metallurgical (16 thousand in the month and 44 thousand in the quarter) and food (almost 13 thousand in the month and 40 thousand in the quarter). The sector of construction forecasts 50 thousand contracts in March and 146 thousand in the quarter. For the sectors of tertiary, forecasts speak of over 324 thousand contracts in March and more than 1 million in the March-May quarter. The greatest opportunities in services come from , with over 93 thousand jobs in March and almost 337 thousand in the quarter, followed by business (68 thousand hires in March and 204 thousand in the quarter) and from services to people (50 thousand in the month and 157 thousand in the quarter).
Nearly half of all hires are difficult to fill
All in all, 48,2% of hirings expected by the companies is of difficult to find, especially for the Lack of suitable candidates to fill the open positions. The sectors most affected by the mismatch are those of metallurgy and metal products (63,3% of difficult-to-fill positions), of the mechatronics (62,1%), of the construction (61,3%), of textile-clothing-footwear (61,1%) and del wood-furniture (55,7%). Among the most difficult profiles to find are the engineers (63,1%), the analyst e specialists in application design (56,2%), and production process management technicians (68,2%), including those engineering (66,2%) and commercial distribution (64,3%). Other profiles that are highly sought after and difficult to find are: blacksmiths, foundries, welders e meccanici handmade by (75,7%, 75,6% and 73,7% respectively).
Who hires the most and what kind of contracts are offered
Companies plan to cover 18,8% of hiring with workers immigrants, with a prevalence of recourse to foreign labour especially in the sectors of operational services (34,1%), transport, logistics and warehousing (26,4%) and construction (22,8%).
As regards the contractual typology, the flow of hiring in March is characterised by a prevalence of fixed-term contracts (257 thousand contracts, equal to 56,3% of the total), followed by fixed-term contracts undetermined (94 thousand contracts, equal to 20,7%) and contracts being administered (39 thousand contracts, equal to 8,6%).
At a territorial level, the companies of the North East coast they report the major mismatch, with 52,2% of positions difficult to fill, followed by northwest (48,1%), from Centro (47,5%) and from Noon (45,4%).
