Presentation by Alexandra Tsvetkova, Lead, Spatial Productivity Lab at the OECD Trento Centre for Local Development at the 15th Spatial Productivity Lab meeting of the OECD Trento Centre on 14 December 2021, Trento, Italy. More info https://oe.cd/SPL

1. @OECD_local www.linkedin.com/company/oecd-local www.oecd.org/cfe
LABOUR DEMAND TRENDS
Alexandra Tsvetkova
Spatial Productivity Lab Trento Centre for Local Development
OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities
15th SPL meeting, University of Trento

2. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Burning Glass 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):
Jul 2018 to Mar 2021

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
EU27, only observations with regional ID
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
Lombardia Bolzano Trento Veneto
FVG Emilia-Romagna Italy
Fact 1
Considerable fluctuations
over time; stronger
performance in the
beginning of 2021
Fact 2
Trends in Trentino mostly
follow the national
pattern; noticeable
underperformance in Q1
2021

5. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Manufacturing vs. services
Fact 1
Strong performance of Trentino in manufacturing
30
50
70
90
110
130
150
Manufacturing
Lombardia Bolzano Trento
Veneto FVG Emilia-Romagna
Italy
30
50
70
90
110
130
150
Services
Lombardia Bolzano Trento
Veneto FVG Emilia-Romagna
Italy
Fact 2
Demand for labour in services contracted more and
did not recover by March 2021

6. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Labour demand by sector
Fact 2
Considerable increase in the labour demand in
Accommodation and Food Services – likely
changing propensity to post vacancies online
10
60
110
160
210
260
Q1 2020 Q2 2020 Q3 2020 Q4 2020
Trentino
Manufacturing Wholesale and retail trade
Transportation and storage Accommodation and food service activities
Information and communication Professional, scientific and technical activities
Administrative and support service activities Public administration and defence; Compulsory social security
Human health and social work activities Other service activities
10
60
110
160
210
260
Q1 2020 Q2 2020 Q3 2020 Q4 2020 Q1 2021
Italy
Manufacturing Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply
Construction Wholesale and retail trade
Transportation and storage Accommodation and food service activities
Information and communication Financial and Insurance activities
Professional, scientific and technical activities Administrative and support service activities
Public administration and defence; Compulsory social security Human health and social work activities
Other service activities
Fact 1
In Trentino, demand in only three sectors
(Manuf, Trade, Accomm&Food) recovered fully
(vs. eight sectors nationally)

7. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Labour demand by occupation
Fact 2
Recovery trends in Italy were more steady; overall
demand was at 112% of the benchmark in March 2021;
only Service and sales workers did not recover fully
Fact 1
In Trentino, overall demand fully recovered in March
2021 (100%) but this was driven by only three
occupations (Managers, Professionals and Crafts)
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
Q1 2020 Q2 2020 Q3 2020 Q4 2020 Q1 2021
Trentino
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
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
Q1 2020 Q2 2020 Q3 2020 Q4 2020 Q1 2021
Italy
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

8. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Labour demand by educational attainment
Fact 2
Expansions and contractions in Trentino followed national
patterns but contractions were larger and expansions
smaller with the exception of Doctorate (strongest growth)
Fact 1
Most of the job postings in the BG data require post-
secondary non-tertiary education (74% on average)
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Growth rate between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021
Trento Bolzano Lombardia Veneto FVG Emilia-Romagna Italy
417 396 126
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Share of total
Trento Bolzano Lombardia Veneto FVG Emilia-Romagna Italy

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

10. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
ICT
10
The pandemic shifted
many economic and
social activities online

Enhanced reliance on
ICT
Does it reflect in BG
data?
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”
…

11. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Labour demand in ICT occupations
Fact 2
Share of vacancies in ICT occupations in Trentino
comparable to that of NE, above the national average but
below Lombardy
Fact 1
Demand for ICT occupations was strong in Trentino
in 2020 but slowed down in 2021
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Lombardia Bolzano Trento Veneto
FVG Emilia-Romagna Italy
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Lombardia Bolzano Trento Veneto
FVG Emilia-Romagna Italy
Monthly index, January 2020=100% Share of total

12. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Labour demand for ICT skills (index)
Fact 2
Massive increase in demand for advanced ICT skills in
Summer 2020 (and full recovery by the end of period);
strong performance in Trentino till July 2020
Fact 1
Contraction of demand for general ICT skills; 92% of
benchmark in March 2021
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
General
Lombardia Bolzano Trento
Veneto FVG Emilia-Romagna
Ítaly
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
Advanced
Lombardia Bolzano Trento
Veneto FVG Emilia-Romagna
Italy

13. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Labour demand for ICT skills (share)
Fact 2
Share of vacancies that require advanced ICT skills is
highest in Lombardy; Trentino on par with other NE regions
but was close to Lombardy during the expansion in 2020
Fact 1
Even clearer differences in demand for general and
advanced ICT skills with a big dip in the beginning of
the pandemic
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Advanced
Lombardia Bolzano Trento
Veneto FVG Emilia-Romagna
Italy
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
General
Lombardia Bolzano Trento
Veneto FVG Emilia-Romagna
Italy

14. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Skills in most growing occupations

15. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Most growing occupations (Q1 2020-Q1 2021)

16. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Top 30 skills in fastest growing occupations
(in Trentino)

17. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Robotics and AI

18. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | Trento Centre for Local Development
Labour demand for Robotics and AI skills
Fact 2
Demand for AI skills declined in Italy, NE and Lombardy
except for BZ; generally very low numbers (~550 in Q1
2021 nationally; 5 in TN; 7 in BZ; 184 in Lombardy)
Fact 1
Demand for Robotics skills was stronger in Q1 2021
compared to 2020 in BZ and TN (stable nationally),
decrease in other regions
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
Lombardia Provincia
Autonoma di
Bolzano/Bozen
Provincia
Autonoma di
Trento
Veneto Friuli-Venezia
Giulia
Emilia-Romagna Italy
2020 Q1 2021
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
Lombardia Provincia
Autonoma di
Bolzano/Bozen
Provincia
Autonoma di
Trento
Veneto Friuli-Venezia
Giulia
Emilia-Romagna Italy
2020 Q1 2020
Robotics (share of all vacancies) Artificial Intelligence (share of all vacancies)

19. 
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