Strategy

Technological innovation and the associated progressive automation of production processes are revolutionizing the world of work everywhere.

According to the paper by Frey and Osborne (2013) "The Future of Employment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerization" 47% of US jobs are at risk of automation. In particular, the least qualified workers will have to bear the higher costs of the process.
Moreover technological innovation has also been accompanied by a polarization of labor demand towards extremes of the distribution of skills, negatively impacting also the levels of employment of medium skilled workers.

Technological innovation has also been accompanied by a polarization of labor demand at the extremes of the distribution of skills, negatively impacting also the levels of employment of medium skilled workers.

In this context, it is crucial to adjust the skills of the workforce to the new trends and market demands, especially in Italy, where the skills mismatch represents one of the main growth brakes.

The Italian production system and its workforce: the gap to be filled

Italy has both a problem of under-qualification and a problem of over-qualification of the workforce. The OECD data place Italian workers in last place in Europe in literacy and in the penultimate in numeracy. However, Italy is in line with the OECD average when the levels of primary and upper secondary education are considered only.

The high percentage of over-qualified workers (about 20% of the workforce) is linked to the structural features of the Italian production system, characterized by micro-enterprises with low added value production. The particularly high percentage of over-qualified among Stem graduates, with skills particularly sought after in high value-added economies, indicates precisely a structural delay in the country's production system.

GENERATE-MI to raise the standards

To address these problems, it is necessary to work on both sides of the labour market.

• On one hand, it is necessary to enhance the quality of labour demand of companies, both in the private sector (SMEs and manufacturing enterprises) and the public sector, by promoting investments that would raise the technological level of production and the attractiveness of creative and innovative skills and jobs.
• On the other one, focusing on more effective vocational training programs and active labour policies, expanding and improving programs and strategies.

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