In Italy the Recovery Plan boosts jobs: young people entering work sites

Young people dream of large-scale projects. As a professional challenge and job opportunity. Railways, bridges, subway lines, construction: everything that will be boosted by the Nantional Recovery Plan, known as PNRR, in the coming years will have an impact on increasing the workforce in Italian construction sites.

The Bank of Italy estimates that from 2023 to 2025, the construction projects financed by the PNRR will require 62,000 jobs, which will increase to 72,000 by 2026, the year set for the completion of the projects.

The construction of high-speed railways and other major projects on the horizon, could accelerate this process and revitalize certain regions in the South where employment has historically been low.

For example, in Sicily, there is an expected increase of 13.6% in employment compared to 2019, 13.2% in Calabria, and 10.6% in Basilicata. Even in Campania, due to the large-scale projects underway, such as the high-speed rail from Naples to Bari, the Bank of Italy predicts an average of nearly 10,000 new workers per year.

These are golden opportunities for young people entering the job market, including engineers and specialized technicians who will have the doors of construction sites opened to them and the opportunity to engage in building major projects.

According to the Bank of Italy, 43,5 billion euros of the PNRR will be earmarked for large public works, considerable funds that will help modernize the Italian infrastructure network on one hand and speed up access to the work force for young people. The impact will be significant especially in some regions of the South.  About half of the funds are focused on five regions: Campania, Sicilia, Lombardia, Lazio and Puglia. In addition to civil buildings, much of this spending will be used for the construction of new high speed railway lines that will allow to link Bari and Reggio Calabria to the rest of Italy and Europe. The same goes for Sicily, where the Webuild Group is had at work to construct the island’s first high capacity railway lines that will connect Palermo with Catania and Messina. The impact on employment is obvious because especially in the South, where there is the highest level of youth unemployment, the young will have new opportunities to be involved in realizing highly challenging projects.

According to the Bank of Italy, the laborers needed will be 21.6% specialized workers, 21.6% professionals like engineers, 43.2% construction workers and 9.1% administrators.

This will benefit companies that will have the opportunity to fill a professional gap that limits their productivity and ability to grow, in Italy and abroad. That’s Webuild’s goal, that for years has been investing in young people, favoring their entrance into the workforce and signing partnerships and study programs with Italian and International universities in order to meet the best talents available today on the market. Young engineers who join the employment programs every year and Webuild’s training, as well as prizes set up to pick the engineers of the future.

“My passion for engineering began when I was a child, traveling in the car with my father and crossing Italy’s greatest works of infrastructure.”

Bridges, roads, viaducts, highways, and railways are now ingrained in the memories of Pasquale Nacchia Crescenzo, a civil engineer who graduated from the University of Salerno and is one of the winners of the second edition of the Alberto Giovannini Award, Innovation and digitalization of infrastructures,  a recognition established by Webuild for the most deserving young graduates in engineering, economics and IT.

“I participated in the Alberto Giovannini Award,” continues Pasquale Nacchia Crescenzo, “with the contents of my thesis prepared at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, in synergy with the University of Salerno. To complete it, I spent some time in Portugal testing steel welds to understand their behavior under extremely high temperatures.”

Pasquale’s project and its results earned him the selection for the Giovannini Award, established by the Group in memory of Alberto Giovannini, an economist, university professor, and president of Webuild who passed away in 2019.

Among the award winners, alongside Pasquale, is Edoardo Lambardi, an engineer from La Sapienza University of Rome, who conducted a comparative analysis between low-damage seismic precast structures and traditional structures from a sustainability standpoint.

“I participated in the Alberto Giovannini Award,” he explains, “because I thought it was a great opportunity to challenge myself, to interact with other young talents, and to obtain recognition that would allow me to continue my professional path.”

That recognition came: on June 26th, in the Sala Buzzati of the Corriere della Sera in Milan, the two young engineers were awarded the scholarship, along with six other colleagues and a university professor, by Webuild’s CEO, Pietro Salini, and the Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara.

In the search for young talents, as well as in the development of innovative projects and analyses, the relationship between universities and businesses becomes essential. This is the case for Webuild, which, through the Giovannini Award, has opened another channel of exchange with Italian universities, awarding a research scholarship to the best projects.

This year the award went to the University of Salerno.

“For this initiative,” said Sabatino Cuomo, associate professor of Geotechnics, “we have developed and presented a specific research project, which is part of a broader research theme concerning the protection of territories from natural phenomena that, however, cause significant damage and casualties.”

Another significant project designed to land precisely in those construction sites where Webuild is building major projects essential for the future and well-being of people.