Presented in the great hall of the rectorate, this morning, it hosted the meeting “Regional economies. The economy of Sicily”, during which the regional report of the Bank of Italy was presented. A document that summarizes the results of the research activity carried out at the local level, with which the Institute intends to contribute to increasing the knowledge of the development dynamics of the Economic System of the Sicilian Region.
The works were opened by the rector’s greetings Giovanna Spatariof the director of the Department of Economics Gustavo Barresiand of the director of the Palermo headquarters of the Bank of Italy Milena Caldarella.
“The report of the Bank of Italy – the rector began – represents a work of high analytical and strategic value, from which it emerges how our region is a dynamic and growing reality. Sicilian universities are working intensely in the context of technology transfer, encouraging everything that is connected to you and in particular the start -ups, which in Sicily demonstrate good growth rates. Our university is making many investments for training courses for training courses youth in the STEM field and is working on the AI sector, in line with what is shown by the relationship.
“This report – added Barresi – offers the Department of Economics of interesting academic and institutional comparison, which will allow us to prepare useful synergies for the territory and our region”.
“For Sicily – said Caldarella – 2024 was a positive year in which economic activity has grown by +1.3 percent in a less intense extent than the previous year, but more robust than in Italy (+0.7 percent). All this was possible thanks to the recorded employment expansion. The framework relating to the Sicilian universities highlights, moreover, an important fact relating to the development of the training offer that has evolved to respond to the needs of the world’s needs of the world of work and a company in continuous transformation. of the effort made by the universities of the island for the formation of young people projected to an increasingly innovative tomorrow “.
The report, however, was presented by the doctors Antonio Lo Nardo, Giuseppe Saporito and Cristina Demma (Territorial analysis and economic research division, Bank of Italy – Palermo headquarters).
“In 2024 – commented Lo Nardo – the economic activity in Sicily slowed down, while continuing to grow at a more sustained rhythms than the macro area and to Italy: according to the quarterly indicator of the regional economy (procedure), as anticipated by Dr. Caldarella, the product has increased by 1.3 percent on average of the year. Furthermore, the positive trend of the labor market has, in any case, the income of the Sicilian families. 2024 According to the data of the detection on the work forces (RFL) of Istat, the Sicilian employment continued to expand.
The theme of the labor market, together with those of youth employment, the university system, investments in new technologies, artificial intelligence and not only have been deepened by tasty and demma. At the same time, the most important data testify that the labor market proved to be the sector that at the regional level gave the greatest satisfactions in the short and medium term. +4.6 percent of employment growth – as highlighted by dr. Saporito – For Sicily it represents a fact that, in 2024, triples the national average. To all this is added an increase in permanent contractualizations and a growth of female work, with a man-woman gap still estimated at 24 percent. The occupied population stands at 47 percent, a result even lower than national averages.