(Finance) – The entry quotas for foreign workers in Italy set by “Flow Decree” are insufficient to respond to the production needs of sectors – in particular those with a high employment of seasonal workers, such as agriculture and tourism-hotel – which in Emilia Romagna represent a significant part of the regional economy, determining the real risk that the activities cannot be managed with continuity and regularity in the season that is about to start and in the one to come. I am expressing concern Daniele Montroni, president of Legacoop Emilia RomagnaAnd Simone Gamberini, president of the national Legacoop.
“From our associates – he underlines Montroni – we receive constant reports on the insufficiency of the quotas of male and female workers assigned to our region to respond to the actual needs of manpower that allow business activities to be carried out with regularity and tranquility. The major criticalities are highlighted in the transformation cooperatives, in agricultural work and in those that manage the activities related to seaside tourism. The mechanism outlined by the Flussi decree is now clearly inadequate for real production needs, with the real risk, for example, that the post-pandemic recovery of tourism-related activities will be severely limited”.
A problem, the one highlighted in the region, which fits into a general picture of persistent shortage of labor supply which affects all production sectors, in particular – underlines Legacoop in a note – the construction sector, that of transport and handling and, lastly, also that of personal services, limiting their growth opportunities.
“In many regions we find ourselves facing the same problem as Emilia Romagna – he says Prawns – and this makes evident the need to update the current regulation of the entry of foreigners into Italy for work reasons, on the basis of a long-term planning shared between the institutions and all the representative organizations of the business world. It is essential to overcome the logic of contingency and emergency, putting in place reception and integration policies that are truly capable of supporting the country’s vital functions, also in consideration of the transformations of its demographic profile. Our hope is that a discussion can be started with the State-Regions Conference and the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies to agree on quotas of foreign workers that truly meet the needs of companies”.