Many economists are carrying analysis on the phenomenon, among these research and preliminary estimates by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) appear to be peculiar.
Based on possible scenarios outlined by the ILO, estimates indicate an increase in global unemployment due to the economic consequences from COVID from 5.3 to 24.7 million. The effects of the crisis on hours worked and income are massive. This crisis may have a greater impact on some groups of workers, increasing inequalities. Among them, people in less protected and lower-paid jobs include young and older workers and migrant workers.
As a matter of fact, the timely adoption of effective and coordinated measures can limit the impact of this crisis. In addition to defining principles and rights at work, international labour standards can guide the design of both labour and economic policies and interventions, these standards shared among the 187 ILO countries promote decent work and a fair and sustainable economic recovery.
As stated by ILO, their strategy aims to limit and contain the effects of COVID-19 and should be structured around four main pillars: (i) protecting male and female workers in the workplace; (ii) supporting the economy and demand for labour; (iii) supporting work and incomes; and (iv) finding shared solutions through social dialogue.
They expect that policies should focus on two immediate objectives: health protection measures and economic support on both the demand and supply side. First, workers and their families need to be protected from health risks by strengthening policies and measures on health and safety at work. Secondly, there is a need to respond through timely and coordinated large-scale policies to support employment and income and to support enterprises, sustain the economy and demand for labour. Decisions by public authorities with the involvement of employers’ and workers’ representatives are crucial for the adoption of measures that are effective and socially acceptable.
Regarding the specific case of Italy, ISTAT (The National Statistics Institute) last surveys show positive signs on recruitment together with difficulties for firms in finding adequate professionalism
13.6% of the enterprises stating that they had not increased their staff added that they were in the process of acquiring resources at the end of last year. In particular, in addition to the construction of buildings and civil engineering, there was a relatively higher frequency of recruitment in sectors such as chemicals and pharmaceuticals, mechanical engineering, software production and IT consultancy.
A very significant proportion of enterprises which have recruited, or were in the process of seeking out staff, reported difficulties in finding the necessary skills: this concerns more than 76% of units in the construction sector and 66.4% in industry. The problem also affects more than 50% in the service and commerce sectors. On the whole, difficulties in acquiring personnel are reported more frequently in smaller units: 63.9% and 66.7% of micro and small enterprises, 58.2% of medium-sized and 50.1% of large enterprises respectively.
Among the missing profiles, those related to logistics and production are most frequently reported, especially by medium and large-sized enterprises. Profiles related to technical-engineering functions in support of production are also indicated above all by medium-sized and large enterprises, while among the micro enterprises there are relatively more frequent difficulties in finding resources in the organisational-management area and in sales, marketing and communication.
Finally, just under 10% of the enterprises declared that they had recorded a higher rate of resignations than that observed in the pre-pandemic period, especially among large enterprises (23.0% among units with more than 250 employees). At the sectoral level, a comparatively high incidence of resignations is found mainly in air transport, travel agency and tour operator services and also in social assistance services.
In the light of this, there is reason to believe that policies oriented to focus on the four ILO’s pillars mentioned above, together with public interventions to support demand especially in sectors considered crucial in this historic time, can succeed in fostering the ascent from Covid-19 socio-economic crisis
here’s more info https://www.istat.it/it/files//2022/02/REPORT-COVID-IMPRESE_2022.pdf
https://www.ilo.org/rome/approfondimenti/WCMS_739996/lang–it/index.htm
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