Territorial inequalities between digital innovation and the labour market

Abstract

Digitalisation has redefined the strategic choices of companies and the skills required by the labour market. In Italy, digital innovation continues to suffer from significant shortcomings, which are accentuated in specific territories. On this basis, the present study aims to contribute by analysing the relationship between the digital innovation of businesses and the digital skills of workers from a complementary perspective, with the ultimate objective of outlining the digital profile of the Italian regions. The analysis begins with the selection of labour market digitalisation indicators on the demand and supply side, processed by ISTAT and Unioncamere's Excelsior Information System. The relationship between the digital innovation of enterprises and the digital skills of workers is analysed through three composite indices to capture the degree of digitalisation of enterprises, the skill level of the workforce and the expected demand for digital skills in the labour market. The synthesis methodology used here is the Mazziotta-Pareto Index (MPI). The findings indicate significant regional differences in the digitalisation paths of firms and the workforce.