lack of technicians, slowed down growth. We need more skilled immigrants – Corriere.it

Our industry competes internationally with the Chinese, Americans, Indians. To keep up we have made the production process digital but now there is a lack of people. In all sectors: from machine tools to industrial chemistry. If we do nothing, this limit will negatively affect our ability to grow further. The demand for skills from industry is increasingly pressing. According to a Fim-Ref survey presented last week, professionals who are difficult to find have risen to 50%. One out of two. Francesco Buzzella, president of Confindustria Lombardia, subscribes and raises the alarm. His message: let’s build solutions now, because in the best case scenario it will take 5-6 years to reap the benefits. Otherwise we risk mortgaging the development of second European manufacturing.

The technicians of the past are today’s graduates. We need graduates but not enough universities are coming out. At least in science subjects. Companies “steal” young people with these curricula. Paradoxically, the large investments in digital technology that the industry has made in recent years highlight this shortcoming: we have the machines, we don’t have the people.

Solutions? Many young people interrupt their studies in our country. They are the so-called NEETs, without study or work. They may be offered the prospect of a technical course which then guarantees a place. Its must be strengthened, we have been repeating this for years. But according to Buzzella there is also a third way: to create qualified immigration channels. Many entrepreneurs in the North-East also think so. The Germans already do it: they facilitate entry for those with the skills necessary for the production system. Companies could complete the training internally for those arriving with good foundations. The shortage of personnel such that the prospect must be considered.

Next February 1, Confindustria Lombardia will host the candidates for the presidency of the Region. We hope that this issue will increasingly enter the political agenda, so far it has not been taken into consideration it deserves – observes Buzzella -. We should always bear in mind that the availability of human capital is a necessary condition for growth. And a country with a debt like ours can only have growth as its guiding star. Of course, in 2022 Italy fared better than expected. In difficulties such as Covid and the conflict in Ukraine, Italian industry has shown extraordinary resilience. We are used to navigating rough waters, we are faster and more adaptive.

Last Friday the president of Confindustria Carlo Bonomi expressed doubts about differentiated autonomy without ifs and buts. Issues such as infrastructure and energy must be managed at a national if not supranational level, that is, at a European level – agrees Buzzella -. Autonomy is fine but it shouldn’t be achieved in an ideological way. Speaking of Europe, the president of Confindustria Lombardia is convinced that a European fund is needed for development and that the revision of the rules on state aid is not enough. A widespread position among industrialists, aware of the government’s limited leeway on state aid, given the constraints posed by public debt.

On the cut in the purchasing power of salaries, the recipe of the Lombard industrialists is the one that the national Confindustria has been repeating for months: sixteen billion to cut the tax wedge while – says Buzzella – so far we have stopped at five. But on the tax front, the government is making great openings to requests from businesses, there is talk of cutting Irap, tax exemption of investments… We are counting on these measures – concludes Buzzella -. They would give a boost to the system and to investments.