Renewables, companies are alarmed in Sicily: technicians and engineers cannot be found

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Sicilian companies are sounding the alarm: technicians graduated from professional technical institutes and ITS are urgently needed, and, above all, electrical, electromechanical and industrial engineers, and even aerospace engineers who intervene in the management and maintenance of wind turbines. There is no match between job supply and demand. The national president of the Labor Consultants Rosario De Luca says it, or rather reiterates it: «There is a misalignment between the training offer and the job market, which results in the unemployability of over 40% of graduates. On the one hand we need to intervene on the university training offer because today we know that there are some faculties that do not guarantee a job opportunity, without neglecting the technical institutes to seize the enormous opportunity of transitions; on the other hand, young people need to actively engage in continuously adapting their skills and looking for a job, as required by Article 4 of the Constitution, without giving in to the temptation of living on public subsidies”.

A point that was discussed during a conference organized by the National Foundation for Labor Consultants in Palermo which, in the meantime, brought regarding a first concrete result: the creation of a database thanks to the collaboration of Sicindustria (the Confindustria association that represents companies from seven of the nine Sicilian provinces) and labor consultants. «Businesses, especially in the field of ecological and digital transition, desperately need technicians, but cannot find any – explains the president of Sicindustria Luigi Rizzolo -. Confindustria has created the Unlavoro portal, which promotes the meeting between job supply and demand and also indications to the world of training to make the preparation of young people compliant with our needs. Anyone who wants to apply can send their CV to the e-mail address: [email protected]”.

«The National Foundation for Labor Consultants – says President Vincenzo Silvestri – is active in Sicily to help institutions, businesses, and in particular Sicindustria with today’s agreement in the selection of the professional figures sought».

But there is another issue that needs to be addressed, say the entrepreneurs and not only them: «The database is only a first step, because it is a real fact that young people who enter companies either do not have adequate preparation , or they don’t have experience, and with bare staff and many orders to complete, companies don’t have the time to train them on the job. This happens – says Rizzolo – because the supply chain does not work: the educational programs are obsolete, there are no periods of experience in the field and, worse still, families still have the belief that their children must follow the path of classical studies, with As a result, the kids either don’t find work or are forced to go outside the island. It is necessary for families to abandon this wrong idea, to understand that technical professions today ensure excellent job opportunities, and for the world of education and training to be oriented towards the urgent needs of the productive fabric”.

Even the unions are on the same line or almost. Luisella Lionti, general secretary of Uil Sicilia, underlines that «training is fundamental to prepare young people for the world of work, to recover those who leave school or do not go to university, for the reintegration of professional figures in changing sectors». Sebastiano Cappuccio, general secretary of the CISL Sicily, has returned to ask that the regional government convene the social partners for a discussion on the programming of the “Pnrr” funds and the cohesion policies: «We have the analyzes – said Cappuccio – and we are able to say what young people and businesses are asking for. We need to address the job emergency by putting together all the resources and planning and using them with sharing and responsibility based on what is needed, such as digital and green, telling young people where they can fit in instead of going away.” While the regional councilor for Labour, Nuccia Albano, announced «the opening of employment center branches in small municipalities, especially those in the mountains and far from large urban centres, which will open once a week with the aim of to offer employment services also to young people in these areas. This responds to a specific request that we received from the mayors.”