The misalignment between job supply and demand risks impoverishing the Calabrian productive fabric. Many companies, especially small ones, are unable to find the staff needed to carry on the business or increase production volumes. Of course, there is no shortage of cases in which the job offer is not congruous or in line with the expectations of those seeking employment. But the data is there and it is also relevant.
The phenomenon is well known on a national scale. Recently the Cgia of Mestre has put the spotlight on it, with many companies, especially small ones, forced “to deal with increasing difficulty in finding qualified personnel”. The institute reveals that in 2025 one in three interviews was missed because no candidate showed up for the selection. And he talks about a phenomenon that has “exploded in recent years”. In 2017, almost 400 thousand hirings failed due to a lack of candidates. In 2025 there were 1,750,000 cases, 30.2% of the expected total (9.7 in 2017).
For the CGIA the reasons are various. But we start from a profound change in the job market: «Many young people have changed the scale of priorities: they are no longer just looking for a salary, but also a balance between private life and work, flexibility, the possibility of growth». Low wages, hard hours and few prospects are, clearly, an unacceptable offer. The demographic data also has an impact: there are fewer young people than in the past, therefore they are more difficult to find, explains the Mestre institute. We must not ignore the “misalignment” that is revealed when many companies, despite looking for technical or specialized figures, are unable to find them because “the school system is no longer able to train in sufficient quantities”.
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