Add the Gazzetta del Sud as a source
The data from the Bank of Italy on the Sicilian economy and those on employment from Istat – observes CGIL Messina – give a picture that we have been denouncing for some time: the city has resources, skills and potential, but continues to lose jobs, young people and development prospects. On the one hand – underlines the CGIL commenting on the latest analysis on the economic fabric – a province emerges that sees growth in family savings, a quality university fabric and an economic heritage that could represent the engine of development. On the other hand, however, this capital is not transformed into productive investments, innovation and new employment.
The most alarming data – highlights the union – is that of work. Messina records one of the lowest employment rates in Italy, with just 37.9% of the population employed. In recent years, thousands of jobs have been lost, while the number of citizens who are giving up even looking for work is growing. Added to this are precariousness, the spread of involuntary part-time work, low wages and continuous emigration of young people, which further impoverishes the territory. Also of concern are the slowdown in public investments, the reduction in credit to businesses, infrastructure delays, the cost of essential services and the persistent inability to transform private savings into local development. The focus is above all on how to fuel the income generated by investments in the real estate sector.
The role of the Pnrr is positive
The role assumed by the Pnrr in recent years is positive – continues the CGIL Messina – but unfortunately it has not guaranteed the much hoped for turning point. We hope that the latest resources will quickly translate into completed works, efficient services and new stable employment. “Messina thus risks experiencing an increasingly evident contradiction – points out the general secretary of the CGIL Messina, Pietro Patti – wealth is produced, but jobs are not produced, savings are accumulated, but investments are made elsewhere, skills are trained, but young people are forced to leave”. For the CGIL Messina it is no longer the time for analysis, but for choices. It is necessary to build a synergistic system for the work and development of the Metropolitan Area, which places stable employment, quality of work and social cohesion at the centre. Messina, with its port system and strategic position in the Mediterranean, can represent one of the main drivers of regional development, but coherent and courageous industrial, infrastructural and logistical choices are needed. It is necessary to strengthen the public health system, invest in mobility, digitalisation, training and research, counteracting the flight of young people and qualified professionals.
It becomes strategic to strengthen the production system by focusing on the port, logistics, tourism, maritime economy, technological innovation, university research and renewable energy. Messina does not need to passively witness its own decline – says the CGIL Messina – It needs a shared vision, a territorial industrial policy and a permanent comparison between institutions, social partners, universities and the production system. It is not enough to record GDP growth, we need policies capable of reducing inequalities, creating decent work, strengthening the productive fabric and guaranteeing a future for the new generations. Messina’s future cannot be built by continuously looking in the rearview mirror.
We need to abandon an economic culture that is content to manage the present and have the courage to invest in strategic supply chains, in the knowledge economy and in new skills. Furthermore, for the CGIL, the real paradigm shift needed in Messina is cultural. We must move from an economy that often lives on income, emergencies and occasional opportunities to an economy that plans, invests, innovates and creates stable and qualified jobs. The issue is not only attracting new investments, but building a ruling class capable of imagining the Messina of the next twenty years and not just managing today’s. “The CGIL Messina – underlines the general secretary, Patti – is ready to do its part, but asks that useless personalism be put aside and opportunities for discussion be created to define a development strategy that puts work, social justice and the future of the city and the entire metropolitan area back at the centre”.