To enhance Made in Italy, let’s start with skills. A proposal

The relaunch of Made in Italy is at the heart of the government’s commitments, so much so that on 31 May the Council of Ministers passed a bill ad hoc signed by the minister Adolfo Urso which includes numerous measures dedicated to the enhancement of our productions. An attention more necessary than ever and which we appreciated, hoping to inaugurate a new season of industrial policy in step with the times, both to defend the identity of our companies and their territorial ecosystem of production, and to enhance their excellence on international markets. Among the interventions of the bill, the green light for the creation of the Made in Italy high school stands out. A novelty that can finally combine the teaching of humanistic culture and technical notions and contribute to forming the skills suitable for the increasingly advanced requests for qualified personnel that come from our companies. It could therefore be the beginning of a turning point to overcome the dichotomy between A-series and B-series works, daughter of an educational culture that separates knowledge from know-how and which has caused bad effects precisely for Made in Italy, if one considers that last year micro and small enterprises had difficulty finding 1,400,000 workers, equal to 42.7 percent of the planned hirings. For crafts, the share rises to 50.2 percent, equal to 264,000 hard-to-find workers. At the same time, 1,600,000 young people under 35 do not study, do not work and do not seek employment.

There is enough to impose a rapid change on the front of policies to train the new generations and prepare them to enter the world of work. So the Made in Italy high school is welcome, which will have to be part of a systemic and coordinated strategy of education and work policies on which the future of the country is based. Confartigianato considers essential a reform of the school guidance system that revitalizes professional institutes and technical institutes, invests in skills starting with the use of digital technologies and focuses on dual and vocational apprenticeship as a fundamental incentivized channel for entry into the world of work. In this regard, artisan enterprises are an excellent “training ground” in which young people can acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to carry out a rewarding, increasingly innovative job, in step with new technological challenges, and can build a future betting on their passions and inclinations.

The raising of the quality of the training offer of technical and professional education, also through a close link with the strategic production systems of the territories, the strengthening of laboratory teaching activities and school-work alternation tools, such as the dual apprenticeship, will make it possible to acquire skills that are more marketable on the job market, as these are courses that form most of the figures required by companies, linked to the manufacturing and Made in Italy production chains. In fact, the Confartigianato Research Office shows that, for 63.2 percent of the personnel, companies ask for a secondary technical qualification, qualification or professional diploma. That the future of Made in Italy in a green and digital key is staked on the training of skills is also demonstrated by the fact that, in recent years, the demand for workers attentive to energy efficiency, reuse, recycling and waste containment has increased . In 2022, in fact, for 43 percent of the hiring of workers with a high secondary technical diploma or qualification and professional diploma, a high attitude towards energy saving and environmental sustainability is required. Furthermore, in the face of the growing digitization of production processes, companies attribute a high importance to digital skills in 33.1 percent of the hiring of workers with technical and professional education.

Marco Granelli he is president of Confartigianato.