Labour demand trends in Trentino and Bolzano based on online job postings data: 1) Labour demand fully recovered from the impacts of COVID-19 in both provinces. 2) Demand was strongest for services/sales and elementary occupations and weakest for crafts/trades and machine operators in Trentino. 3) Both provinces generally underperformed national levels in high-tech manufacturing, knowledge-intensive services, ICT occupations, and skills.

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LABOUR DEMAND TRENDS
Alexandra Tsvetkova
Spatial Productivity Lab Trento Centre for Local Development
OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities
19th SPL-IRVAPP meeting

2. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Lightcast data
2
Web-scrapped data
from online job
postings
o Big
o Detailed
o Timely
o (Some) unique
information
Information on:
o Location (NUTS3)
o Industry
o Occupation
o List of skills
o Type of contract
o Salary, education,
experience, company
name, etc.
Disadvantages:
o Missing data
o Representativeness
differs across
industries and
possibly regions
o Changes in data
quality over time
Unit of observation:
Job posting
Frequency: Daily
Time covered (EU27):
July 2018 to June 2022

3. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
General trends

4. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Total number of job postings, index
Only observations with regional ID
Fact 1
Labour demand fully
recovered after
COVID-19
Fact 2
Trends in Trentino
mostly follow the
national pattern;
more volatility in
Bolzano (could be
due to language)
0
50
100
150
200
250
Lombardy Bolzano Trento Veneto FVG ER Italy

5. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Labour demand by occupation
Fact 2
Same general patterns in Bolzano; slightly stronger
demand for clerical support workers
Fact 1
In Trentino, strongest recovery in services & sales and
elementary occupations; weakest recovery in crafts &
related trades and plant & machine operators
Labour demand by occupation, index
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Trento
0
50
100
150
200
250
300 Bolzano Managers
Professionals
Technicians and associate
professionals
Clerical support workers
Service and sales workers
Craft and related trades
workers
Plant and machine
operators, and assemblers
Elementary occupations

6. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Labour demand by sector, index
Manufacturing
Bolzano generally above national level; Trento at or
below national level
Services
Large dip at the end of 2021; Trento generally above
national level; Bolzano at or below except for 2022
50
70
90
110
130
150
170
190
210
230
250
Manufacturing
Lombardy Bolzano Trento Veneto
FVG ER Italy
50
70
90
110
130
150
170
190
210
230
250
Services
Lombardy Bolzano Trento Veneto
FVG ER Italy

7. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
High-tech/knowledge-intensive

8. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Labour demand in HT manufacturing, share
Fact 2
Underperformance is larger in medium High-Tech
manufacturing, particularly in Bolzano
Fact 1
Both TN and BZ tend to underperform already
quite low national labour demand in High-Tech
manufacturing
0
1
2
3
4
5
High-Tech
Lombardia Bolzano Trento Veneto
FVG ER Italy
0
1
2
3
4
5
Medium High-Tech
Lombardia Bolzano Trento Veneto
FVG ER Italy

9. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Labour demand in KIS, share
Fact 2
Bolzano is generally underperforming the national labour
demand in KIS except for a short-lived increase after the
initial pandemic restrictions were lifted
Fact 1
Trento was outperforming national labour
demand in KIS before COVID-19; similar or lower
labour demand after the pandemic
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Lombardia Bolzano Trento Veneto FVG ER Italy

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ICT trends and Internet speeds

11. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
ICT
11
The pandemic shifted
many economic and
social activities online

Enhanced reliance on
ICT
ICT occupations
133 Information and
communications technology
service managers
251 Software and applications
developers and analysts
252 Database and network
professionals
351 Information and
communications technology
operations and user support
technicians
General ICT skills
Examples:
“Microsoft”
“Office software”
“Internet”
“Data”
“Online communications
tools”
…
Advanced ICT skills
Examples:
“SQL”, “Java”, “Pyton”, “C+”
“information systems”
“software engineering”
“systems development”
“statistical analysis”
“data analysis”
…

12. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Labour demand in ICT occupations, share
Fact 2
The shares in both Trento and Bolzano below the national
average
Fact 1
The share of ICT occupations in labour demand tends
to decrease starting in 2021
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Lombardy Bolzano Trento Veneto FVG ER Italy

13. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Labour demand for ICT skills (index)
Fact 2
After the pandemic, demand for both general and
advanced ICT skills mostly at or below national level in
Trento; no pattern in Bolzano
Fact 1
Differing dynamics at the beginning of the pandemic;
stronger growth in demand for general ICT skills
afterwards
30
80
130
180
230
General
Lombardy Bolzano Trento Veneto FVG ER Italy
30
80
130
180
230
Advanced
Lombardy Bolzano Trento Veneto FVG ER Italy

14. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Labour demand for ICT skills (share)
Fact 2
Bolzano at or above national level in demand for general
ICT skills, Trento is lagging; both provinces are lagging in
demand for advanced ICT skills
Fact 1
Same dynamics during the onset of the pandemic;
slow recovery in the share of demand for general ICT
skills, contraction and slow growth for advanced
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Advanced
Lombardy Bolzano Trento Veneto FVG ER Italy
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
General
Lombardy Bolzano Trento Veneto FVG ER Italy

15. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Internet speed (deviation from national)
Fact 2
Positive dynamics in both Trento and Bolzano with Internet
speeds going above national average in early 2020 and
staying there
Fact 1
Lowest fixed Internet speeds in both Trento and
Bolzano; slight improvement over time in Trento,
slight deterioration over time in Bolzano
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
Fixed
Lombardy Bolzano Trento Veneto FVG ER
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
40
Mobile
Lombardy Bolzano Trento Veneto FVG ER
Source: OOKLA

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Robotics and AI

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Demand for Robotics and AI skills, share
Fact 2
Trento tended to outperform Bolzano and Italy but more
recently the demand lags behind the national one
Fact 1
Overall downward trend in the share of labour
demand for AI and Robotics skills
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
1.40
Lombardy Bolzano Trento Veneto FVG ER Italy

18. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Most required skills

19. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Top 10 skills

20. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Main take-aways
Labour demand as reflected in online job postings appears to fully recover after COVID-19
Services & sales and elementary occupations lead the recovery
Both provinces underperform the nation in labour demand for workers in high-tech and medium-high-
tech manufacturing and more recently in knowledge-intensive services
Before the pandemic, the provinces had somewhat stronger labour demand for ICT, AI and robotics skills
but more recently there is decline
There is scope for improving fixed-connection Internet speeds in both Trento and Bolzano
Transversal and general ICT are the leading skills required in Italy and in both provinces

21. 
Twitter: @OECD_local
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/oecd-local
Website: www.oecd.org/cfe | www.trento.oecd.org
Thank you!
Alexandra.Tsvetkova@oecd.org
OECD Trento Centre for Local Development

22. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Sector definitions
22
High-tech
21 Manufacture of basic
pharmaceutical products and
pharmaceutical preparations
26 Manufacture of computer,
electronic and optical products
Medium High-tech
20 Manufacture of chemicals
and chemical products
27 Manufacture of electrical
equipment
28 Manufacture of machinery
and equipment n.e.c.
29 Manufacture of motor
vehicles, trailers and semi-
trailers
30 Manufacture of other
transport equipment
KIS
50 Water transport
51 Air transport
58 Publishing activities
59 Motion picture, video and
television programme
production, sound recording
and music publishing activities
60 Programming and
broadcasting activities
61 Telecommunications
62 Computer programming,
consultancy and related
activities
63 Information service
activities
64 Financial service activities,
except insurance and pension
funding
65 Insurance, reinsurance and
pension finding, except
compulsory social security
66 Activities auxiliary to
financial services and insurance
activities
69 Legal and accounting
activities
70 Activities of head offices,
management consultancy
71 Architectural and
engineering activities, technical
testing
72 Scientific research and
development
….
ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/Annexes/htec_esms_an3.pdf