The demand for work from companies in the fashion system, in the medium term, will be increasingly oriented towards the search for specific professional skills to manage the ecological transition, towards managers and technicians capable of orienting companies in the direction of sustainability: from the procurement of materials raw and semi-finished products for end-of-life control, with the related activities of data collection, reporting and correct information to the public.
The need
The Excelsior system, created by Unioncamere and Anpal, estimates that the overall need for the fashion system between 2023 and 2027 is 72,900 new employees. Considering only the textile, clothing and accessories sectors, the most conservative estimate is a need for 63 thousand new employees until 2027, which rises to 94 thousand in the most favorable estimate. But what are the professions with emerging demand? From the scouting activity conducted by Assolavoro and Datalab on the most requested professional profiles in the main vacancy collection portals (Linkedin, Trovit and Indeed) and among the associated employment agencies, new professional figures stand out aimed at activities related to sustainability, in the scope of planning and control functions (in English, Sustainability Specialist-Fashion, Environmental Reporting Coordinator). The demand from companies is also aimed at other professional figures who will have to contribute to reorienting skills towards the management of sustainability processes: in the management, control and administration area, figures such as Finance & Controlling Specialist, Finance Governance and Compliance Analyst stand out. In the analysis and monitoring area, the request is for profiles such as Digital Analytics Manager and Business Performance Management Analyst.
European policies
For the textile, clothing and footwear industries, almost half of the professions sought are difficult to find. These figures respond to a production dynamic characterized by European Union policies increasingly directed towards the search for greater sustainability in a sector considered among the most polluting and impacting on the environment. The goal by 2030 is to transform the production system by focusing on more durable and recyclable textile products, with extensive use of recycled fibers and manufactured without dangerous substances and respecting the environment. The introduction of the so-called “Extended Producer Responsibility”, then, will commit the sector to assuming full responsibility for the life cycle of products, including the end-of-life phase. The introduction of the “digital passport” is also envisaged (see also Il Sole 24 Ore of 20 February on the Limonta case), a label with digitally readable data with information on the degree of eco-sustainability of the product, the type of materials, the recyclability. But are businesses ready? According to Istat, 67% of companies in the fashion system have initiated environmental protection actions, with production processes that reduce the impact of their activities, especially in the most impactful segment, tanning and leather goods. They range from interventions to save the material used in production processes and waste separation and recycling, to actions to limit water withdrawals and consumption and emissions.
The fashion system
It is an important challenge for a sector, the fashion system as a whole, which in 2023 employed over 600 thousand workers, distributed across approximately 60 thousand companies, with a total turnover of over one hundred billion (National Chamber of Fashion data). However, the report by Assolavoro and Datalab highlights a fragmented production structure, on a numerical level, single-person, freelance or self-employed businesses predominate (54.3%), together with partnerships which represent 12.4% of the total. The remaining companies are divided between limited liability companies (31%) and joint stock companies (1.6%). The same picture is given by the distribution by employee classes, with over a quarter of employees employed in micro businesses with up to 9 employees and only 15% in large companies with over 250 employees. A further 19.8% are employed in medium-sized companies with between 50 and 249 employees, but the ones that prevail with 37.6% of those employed are companies with between 10 and 49 employees.
Presence in the territory
Compared to the rest of the manufacturing sector, here there is a greater presence of workers in micro enterprises (27.7% versus 21.2%). The cost of personnel in the fashion system accounts for 8.4% of the manufacturing total (compared to a share of employees equal to 11.8%), because the average cost per employee is lower than the manufacturing total, as a consequence of the lower specialization and qualification of the sector’s workforce. The fashion system, in fact, is characterized by a high intensity of labor with low qualifications and low cost. Compared to manufacturing there are more workers: they represent 71.9% in the fashion system (against 65.6%). Again in comparison with the rest of the manufacturing sector, there are more female workers in the fashion system: the share of women out of the total employed is 55.5%, double compared to the 27.8% in the manufacturing sector. At a territorial level, those employed are mainly present in Lombardy (19.5%), Veneto (15%) and Tuscany (23.9%). However, the individual sectors are also rooted in other regions, textiles have a large presence in Piedmont, clothing in Emilia-Romagna, for leather goods and tanning a significant share of workers is in Campania and Tuscany, for footwear in the Marche and Puglia.
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2024-03-22 17:46:42