Italian businesses advertised 575,000 job openings in July, with total demand for the July-September quarter rising to over 1.5 million positions. Fixed-term contracts dominated July’s opportunities (370,000), while companies reported difficulty finding suitable candidates for approximately 261,000 roles.
This labor demand stems from firms across the industrial, services, and primary sectors (agriculture, forestry, hunting, and fishing). Excluding projections from the primary sector, companies in industry and services show expansive hiring trends. They plan 30,000 more hires this July compared to July 2023 (+6%), and 85,000 more hires than in the July-September quarter of last year (+6.4%).
These findings come from the Excelsior Information System Bulletin, produced by Unioncamere and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies. The report, supported by the EU-cofinanced “Giovani, donne e lavoro” (Youth, Women, and Work) national program, details employment forecasts for July.
The industrial sector overall seeks nearly 139,000 workers in July, climbing to over 374,000 for the quarter. Within this, manufacturing requires over 91,000 workers monthly (around 242,000 quarterly). The food, beverage, and tobacco industries offer the most manufacturing opportunities (26,000 monthly, 59,000 quarterly), followed by mechatronics (20,000 monthly, 54,000 quarterly) and metallurgy/metal products (14,000 monthly, 42,000 quarterly). The construction sector aims for 47,000 hires in July and 133,000 for the quarter.
Service sector firms plan approximately 400,000 contracts in July, exceeding 1 million for the entire July-September quarter.