Quarterly information of the Regional Labour Market Observatory
THE OVERVIEW
“In the second quarter of 2023 in Italy, labour input – measured by hours worked – and GDP show a contraction in cyclical terms, while remaining on the rise in trend terms. Compared to the first quarter of 2023, labour input decreased by 0.5% and GDP by 0.4%; compared to the second quarter of 2022, the increase comes to 1.3% and 0.4% respectively’. In Tuscany, there are signs of a slowdown in the labour market, with start-ups decreasing by 4.3% and 4% on the previous quarter. Employees are, however, still growing: +3.1% on the same quarter of 2022 and +1.2% on the first quarter of 2023. Monthly cyclical changes, although positive, appear, however, to be steadily decreasing: from +0.6% in March to +0.1% in July. Positive signs, compared to the second quarter of 2022, are observed in all production sectors excluding banking services. Above average are the trends observed for construction and, in manufacturing, the metal-mechanics and fashion sectors. The tertiary sector is growing less than the average, within which tourism services stand out for their consistent growth. In comparison with the corresponding period of 2019, only the footwear, tanning and marble industries still show negative signs, in addition to financial services. Total employment estimated by ISTAT is at the same level as the previous year, but the number of dis
Focus on: PRODUCTION SECTORS AND TERRITORIES IN TUSCANY. LONG-TERM TRENDS
Between 2009 and 2022, the number of employees in Tuscany grew by 24%, corresponding to 245 thousand more workers. Seventy per cent of this increase is due to the tertiary sector: +175 thousand employees, particularly in tourism services, which contributed 42 thousand additional jobs. This is followed by: education, +36 thousand teachers, mainly in primary and secondary schools, the result of stabilisations and an increasing number of support teachers; then, security and cleaning services (+22 thousand) and retail trade (+21 thousand). The manufacturing sector recorded a growth of 61 thousand employees, representing 25% of the overall increase. The activities that contributed most to this result were textiles and clothing and leather goods. Overall, textiles, clothing and leather goods saw their weight in the total number of employees in the industry increase from 20% in 2009 to 27.5% in 2022. On the other hand, the incidence of the sectors classified by ISTAT as having a higher structural competitiveness index – mechanics, means of transport, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and paper – decreased slightly from 34.0% to 33%. Given these sectoral dynamics, the territories in Tuscany with the best performances are the Florentine area, where a very strong increase in leather goods is observed, and the district systems, in particular Prato, with the important contribution of employees of Chinese individual enterprises. The growth of the southern areas of the region, both inland and coastal, the latter characterised by the presence of industrial crisis areas, is definitely weaker. The two systems of the cities of Pisa and Siena also show limited increases, the latter in particular being penalised by the Monte dei Paschi di Siena crisis. The systems of the north coast, Versilia, Massa and Carrara, characterised by the co-presence of manufacturing – shipyards, metal mechanics, marble quarrying and processing – and services related to seaside tourism, perform better than those of the south, particularly in manufacturing.
