Lack of talent, increasingly low salaries (especially when compared to the cost of living and rising inflation) and skills to update. If we wanted to simplify, we could summarize the trends of the 2023 labor market as follows. In reality, however, there is much more.

“Fascinated by the issues posed by the Great Resignation - explains Orazio Stella, senior partner of Loriga & Associati, a research and selection company - which are perhaps only the result of the natural slowdown in job mobility recorded during the lockdown and in the midst of an economic situation in which it is clear whether we are entering a recession or if in the second half of 2023 the economy will make a great start again (one can find opinions which favor both hypotheses with equal weight and scientific dignity), we are probably forgetting about a problem that operates in the search and selection of personnel must face every day: the people needed to fill the open positions cannot be found. There are many reasons behind this situation, but one is stronger than others: in Italy wages have not grown for 30 years and today the average wage level is clearly lower than that received by people with similar positions in other countries Europeans. A problem that, unfortunately, is starting to make itself felt a lot".

Some data: in the period from 1990 to 2020, average wages in Germany increased by 34%, in France by 31%, in the Benelux by more than 20%, in Spain by 6% and in Italy they decreased by 3% (processing carried out by Openpolis, based on OECD data).

The issue of productivity and that gap that Italian companies continue to fail to fill is also connected to this: if those who work do not have the perception that professional commitment guarantees a free and dignified existence, the reaction will go from quiet quitting (I'm not resigning, but I certainly don't dedicate to work the commitment that would be necessary to achieve the given objectives) to a different life choice, where the time to devote to one's passions will become the priority around which to build everything else. This will pay off in terms of productivity (and therefore business) and it will become increasingly difficult to justify a realignment of wages.

“Only the companies – adds Orazio Stella – who will be the first to understand the need to make a reflection based on sustainable data and analyzes will acquire a real competitive advantage and, I am sure, it will be the Italian system, as a whole, that will take advantage of it. What, for some time now, has been defined 360 degree sustainability has (and will have in the future) a decisive impact also at the level of employment strategies: the attractiveness towards talent, the physical, mental and financial well-being of workers and their employability will be increasingly linked to the ability of companies and managers Of create value and it is in this field, in which competition is increasingly fierce, that the talent retention match will be played”.