Infographic chapter 5

Chapter 5 - Balance at work: in, out, change

The world of work involves various types of balance. The primary types of balance include: the balance between supply and demand, where wages are the mechanism that regulates the market; the balance between training and the professionalism sought by companies; and the balance between retired persons and workers, particularly in the light of an ageing population. As far as the first type of balance is concerned, the questions we try to answer in the chapter are: firstly, those from a demand point of view, i.e., for example, what are the needs of Veneto companies, what type of workers and skills are they looking for and, secondly, from a supply point of view, who are the people looking for, or rather, offering work, what experience do they have, what job would they like etc...? The analysis of the balance between the educational system and the world of work is closely linked. Companies in the Veneto region state that they have difficulties in finding certain professional figures due to both a scarcity of candidates and their poor preparation. However, in addition to this, there is also the presence of a good proportion of over-qualified workers on the labour market, who have a higher qualification than that required to carry out their job: in Veneto about one in four workers is over-qualified.
Finally, the last part of the chapter deals with the issue of an ageing population, which puts the sustainability of the pension system in a critical position, due to the contribution burden of an active population which will become increasingly weak compared to the growing number of old-age pensioners. As early as 2017, there was already a clear problem in maintaining the working capacity of the country and our region at a constant level: in the Veneto region, the elderly workforce potential outnumbered young people entering the market by 43 units. It should be noted, however, that in Veneto the pension system is more sustainable: for 100 employees there are 61 pensioners, the fourth lowest rate among the Italian regions.