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Thousands of tech jobs vacant as Italy can't find talent

The Local Italy
The Local Italy - [email protected]
Thousands of tech jobs vacant as Italy can't find talent
Some 76,000 jobs were unfilled last year. Photo: Kailash Gyawali/Flickr

Italy's technology sector is struggling to fill thousands of jobs, despite the county's high unemployment, due to a shortage of talent.

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Some 76,000 professional-level jobs advertised by companies in the industrial and service sectors went unfilled last year, according to data from Italy's Ministry of Work and Chamber of Commerce.

According to the figures, 41.8 percent of all vacancies for software developers and analysts were unfilled, or only filled temporarily. The same was true of 30 percent of vacancies for engineering professionals.

This is despite a national unemployment rate of 11.7 percent and a youth unemployment rate of 37.9 percent.

"Generally, Italy is managing easily to find workers for most of its jobs," a spokesperson from the Chamber of Commerce told The Local.

"However, there are a couple of areas where the number of unfilled jobs is very high." 

Italy's technology and engineering sectors are particularly hard hit, especially as thousands of the country's brightest move abroad each year for work.

According to data from national statistics agency, Istat, seven percent of all Phd holders who graduated between 2004 and 2006 currently live abroad, while 14 percent of those who got their doctorates between 2008 and 2010 are now living and working elsewhere.

"Obviously, among those who leave Italy for work there are many highly-skilled and well-educated workers," the spokesperson added.

Another problem is the lack of work experience among Italian jobseekers. Companies are looking to hire, but can't find workers who fit the bill.

"We need our schools and universities to offer more work placements to students, giving them the opportunity to develop the real-world skills that will make them more valuable to employers," the spokesperson said.

 

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reemayouby 2021/08/27 01:04
It would be great to get an update on this article! How do the numbers look now as we approach the fall (autumn) of 2021?

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