Skills in the Italian Labour Market

Abstract

The skills of the workforce play a strategic role in the economic and social progress of a country. In this context, Italy faces a disadvantage compared to other developed countries. Italian workers, in particular, are noted to have lower levels of education and qualification (Istat, 2022). Additionally, Italy performs weakly in international rankings with regard to the share of human capital employed in scientific or technical fields (European HRST indicator; Istat, 2023). There is also an evident challenge in aligning skills supply with demand, leading to a significant proportion of workers being either underqualified or overqualified for their roles.

In this context, the data of the 2022 ad hoc module of the Labour Force Survey conducted by Istat, which focuses on the skills used in their job by individuals, can be analysed. Respondents were asked to indicate, based on their perception, the time allocated to specific activities, serving as a proxy measure for possessing particular skills.

The investigated skills are related to digital activities, reading, calculate, hard physical work, finger dexterity, internal and external communication and training. In addition, the study explores the way work is performed, observing the degree of autonomy in influencing the way work is carried out, as well as the prevalence of repetitive tasks or tasks ruled by rigid procedures.

The proposed contribution aims to analyse data from the module for employed people, using also a multiple correspondence analysis to explore the connections between the main skill-related variables and other employment characteristics.