Improvements in digital skills and job training attitude in Italy 2021, by area

The COVID-19 pandemic, which first hit Italy in late February 2020, had a massive impact on life in the country. The measures adopted by the Italian government to control the contagion pushed many businesses to stop or radically scale down their activities. About a third of Italian workers started working from home. Many had to learn how to use new digital tools and the overall climate of uncertainty pushed workers to focus more on their skills. According to a survey conducted in April 2021, about 41 percent of Italian workers declared that their digital skills had improved over the previous year, and another 32 percent reported a positive development in their attitude towards job training. When taking into account only people living in the South and the islands, the percentage of respondents who enhanced their digital skills jumped to 48 percent. On the other hand, only about a quarter of respondents from the North East of the country reported a more positive attitude towards job training.