PRESS RELEASE
SINAPPSI’s latest issues shares the results of the Indaco Imprese survey with data from 20,000 Italian companies
Inapp: ‘Workers in micro and SMEs tend to be older and poorly trained’
Just over half of micro-enterprises invest in training, 84.5% do so to comply with legal obligations. Meanwhile, the ratio between the working population and those over 65 remains among the highest in Europe (37%).
Fadda: ‘In this digital era, due to the profound technological transformations of production processes and the emergence of new goods and services as well as new competitors, the training, reskilling and upskilling of the workforce is paramount, especially for SMEs. Data from the research carried out by our Institute shows low incidence of training in the workforce. Furthermore, small companies lack awareness of the need to innovate from an organisational and technological point of view. The Interprofessional Funds, the European Year of Competencies and the PNRR are great tools that can have a positive impact in this area’.
Rome, 11 July 2023 – Only 56.7% of micro enterprises organise training courses for their employees (compared to 94.1% of large companies). These courses mainly concern regulatory and legal obligations (84.5%), while courses on specific skills and production/service technologies are carried out only by 32.5% of companies. Companies often involve only a portion of their staff in courses, neglecting low-skilled workers, who would instead be in greater need of updating and developing their skills.
In the meantime, the old-age dependency ratio, i.e. the ratio of the population aged 65 and over to the working age population (15-64) remains among the highest in Europe (37 per cent).
These are the findings published in the latest issue of the SINAPPSI magazine, the scientific journal by Inapp (National Institute for Public Policy Analysis), which presents data from the INDACO Imprese survey, the sample survey carried out by the Institute involving more than 20,000 companies.
According to the data, a large number of SMEs provide little training and in most instances only if this is mandatory. It appears that small businesses are not fully aware of the benefits of regular and systematic investment in training and only provide them if required by law. This is mainly due to the inability of small businesses to meet the challenges of digitalisation and innovation and to provide timely opportunities for development to their employees, as well as to the limited availability at the territorial level of courses that meet the needs of workers and businesses. This gap is further exacerbated by a gap in technological endowment and un-innovative organisational business models, besides the obvious lack of a development-prone working culture.
“Our enterprises,” explained Professor Sebastiano Fadda, president of Inapp, “need to compete in the digital era, which is changing the production processes due to technological transformations and the emergence of new goods, services, competitors, making it paramount for businesses to train, reskill and upskill their workforce, especially for SMEs. Data from the research carried out by our Institute show low incidence of training in the workforce. Furthermore, small companies lack awareness of the need to innovate from an organisational and technological point of view. The Interprofessional Funds, the European Year of Competencies and the PNRR are great tools that can have a positive impact in this area” In general, only one in ten workers (9.9 percent) in Italy participates in vocational training courses against the 15 percent target put forward by the EU. Participation in training is also very low due to the severe shortage of training courses at the territorial level, especially in southern regions.
There is also a lack of awareness and reluctance to take advantage of existing funding. Only 4.8 percent of businesses have submitted a training project proposal under the New Skills Fund while 13 percent have chosen not to make use of it, or have never heard of it (81.5 percent).
As for the uptake of digital technologies, only 5 percent of companies have adopted those that are considered essential to compete in the digital area. This trend is in stark contrast to the European Commission’s targets – set by the Pathway to the Digital Decade – of increasing employed ICT specialists from 8 million to 20 million, having 75 percent of enterprises use cloud, big data and AI and 90 percent of SMEs with at least basic level of digital skills. On the training front, meanwhile, the European Council has set 2030 as the deadline by which at least 60 percent of adults aged 25-64 should have participated in learning activities in the previous 12 months.
“The European Year of Competencies, inaugurated in May by the European Commission and coordinated in Italy by our Institute,” Fadda concludes, “can support the development of workers’ skills, in particular through three directions: Promoting investment in training and retraining; ensuring the coherence of workers’ skills with the needs of the labour market, through close cooperation with social partners, businesses, employment services and the main actors in education and vocational training; and finally, ensuring the match between citizens’ aspirations and skills with the opportunities offered by the labour market, particularly in sectors involved in the green and digital transitions and committed to economic recovery.”
For more information:
Giancarlo Salemi – INAPP President Spokesperson (347 6312823)
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