Self-employed craftsmen and artisans group Confartigianato said Saturday that almost half of Italian job vacancies, 48%, were unfilled.

Confartigianato launched a “recruitment SOS” with a report showing that “it is increasingly difficult for Italian companies to find labour”.

It said the share of missing workers in the total number of planned hirings rose from 40.3% in July 2022 to 47.9% in July 2023 of July 2023″.

“It is alarming due to a widespread phenomenon throughout Italy and in all sectors, from traditional to digital and hi-tech activities, and there is a growing emergency everywhere: in the last year the share of hard-to-find workers has risen by 9.1 points in the South, 6.9 points in the Centre, 7.4 points in the North West, and 6.5 points in the North East”.