Despite an almost global downturn in the telecoms and IT markets, in Italy these sectors are growing ‘steadily’ reports Europemedia. Lay offs in the US have reportedly reached 136,006 for the period December 1999 to July 2001 (according to thestandard.com) yet the number of workers in the Italian IT sector has grown by 3.7% since 1998 according to recent figures from Assinform.
Italy is widely considered to be running about two years behind the US in terms of technological development so it is entirely possible that it has yet to go through the ‘dotcom slowdown’ that has led to job losses and economic slowdown in the US and other areas of Europe this year.
As Italy adopts the technology and culture of the internet and begins to realise the possibilities it offers, it will lead to changes in working practice and employee attitudes in the IT and telecoms sectors.
“The US is only now coming out of ten years of continuous growth and most of the layoffs are linked to the fluctuations of the bourses.” Frederico Barilli, director of Assinform said “The Net Economy has created flexibility in the working world, improving the training and education of people. The era where Italians would remain 30 years in the same company or become entrepreneurs is over”.
