Italian fashion needs 75,000 new professionals

The shortage of talent in the luxury manufacturing sectors emerged strongly during the Giornata Altagamma 2024, held yesterday in Rome, which saw the participation of prominent figures such as the Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, and Ambassador Mario Vattani, General Commissioner for Expo 2025 Osaka. The Altagamma Foundation, in collaboration with Unioncamere, presented alarming data on employment and professional forecasts in Italy for the period from 2024 to 2028. As many as 276,000 people are being sought in the Motor, Food, Hospitality, Fashion, and Design sectors, with companies estimating difficulties in finding personnel in 50% of cases, despite a youth unemployment rate around 20%. Fashion, the flagship of made in Italy, requires 75,000 new professionals by 2028, with an estimated total of 483,000 employees. Despite the growing demand, fashion companies report difficulties in finding qualified personnel in 47.5% of cases. The lack of suitable candidates poses a threat to the continuity and innovation of a sector that has always relied on Italian artisanal and creative quality.

Matteo Lunelli, President of Altagamma, emphasized the urgency of training new talents: «In light of the employment need for 276,000 profiles over the next five years, the training of new talents must be a priority for the entire Italian manufacturing sector, […]. The common goal of Companies, Associations, and Institutions must be to build a virtuous ecosystem in which manufacturing work becomes an ambition for young people and where the educational system is able to ensure the right skills and soft skills». The need for new professionals concerns not only fashion but all sectors of Made in Italy. The figures are clear: for the motor sector, 80,000 units are required, with an estimate of 752,000 employees by 2028; in the food sector, 60,000 are needed, with an estimate of 495,000 employees in the next four years; in the hospitality sector, 32,000 units are required, with an estimate of 230,000 employees and another 29,000 in the design field, with an estimate of 240,000 employees by 2028. In these other sectors as well, companies face difficulties in finding the necessary personnel, with difficulty in finding talents reaching up to 57% of cases in the design field, 55.9% in the motor sector, and 47.7% in the hospitality sector.