Italy’s hospitality sector is expected to lead November hiring with 72,000 planned hires

Italy’s accommodation, restaurant and tourism sector is expected to account for 72,000 planned hires in November, making hospitality one of the country’s biggest sources of labor demand as companies broadly increase recruitment, according to the Excelsior monitoring system run by Unioncamere and Italy’s Ministry of Labor and Social Policies. The same survey showed nearly 452,000 planned hires across the economy in November, up 2.1% from November 2025, and more than 1.3 million planned hires for the November 2026-January 2027 period.

The figures, reported Thursday, November 12, measure hiring plans by businesses rather than net job creation. Within that framework, hospitality stands out both for the volume of expected openings and for the weight of restaurant work inside the sector. Excelsior said restaurant and food service profiles were the single most sought-after occupational group in the country, with 62,000 planned hires in November. That places restaurants at the center of Italy’s expected labor demand for the month, ahead of sales staff, at 44,000 planned hires, and unskilled workers involved in moving and delivering goods, at 30,000.

More broadly, services remain the main driver of hiring. Excelsior said service activities account for 66.7% of all planned hires in November, or more than 301,000 positions. Industry, including construction, is expected to generate about 121,000 planned hires, equal to 26.7% of the total, while the primary sector is expected to account for nearly 30,000, or 6.6%.

Within services, accommodation, restaurants and tourism lead the main sectors by planned hiring volume, with 72,000 expected entries. Trade follows closely with 71,000, then personal services with 54,000. Construction, while outside the service economy, is also a major source of labor demand with 44,000 planned hires.

Excelsior said the strongest overall hiring growth compared with November 2025 was in agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing, in operational support services for businesses and individuals, and in mechanical and electronics manufacturing. The report did not give a separate year-over-year growth rate for accommodation, restaurants and tourism, but it identified the sector as the largest single area of planned hiring in November. That makes the data especially relevant for hotels, restaurants and other tourism-related businesses trying to staff up for activity during the late fall and early winter period.

The survey also pointed to continuing strain in the labor market. Employers said 44.2% of the profiles they are seeking are difficult to find, equal to about 200,000 planned hires. For hospitality businesses, that means strong demand does not automatically translate into successful recruitment, especially in a market where many service employers compete for frontline workers at the same time.

The hiring challenge is even sharper in some occupational groups. Excelsior said shortages are particularly severe among skilled workers and plant and machine operators, where the difficulty rate reaches 57.5%. Among the hardest positions to fill are specialized workers in construction finishing, with a shortage rate of 76.9%, mechanics, assemblers, repairers and maintenance workers, at 74.5%, and engineering technicians, at 69.3%.

The report said the main reason companies struggle to recruit is a lack of candidates, which affects 25.9% of planned hires. In another 14.2% of cases, employers said applicants do not have adequate preparation. Regional differences are also visible. Hiring growth is stronger in southern Italy, where planned recruitment is up 3.6% from November 2025, outpacing the national increase.

By occupation, clerical workers and commercial and service professions together account for 35.7% of planned hires in November, confirming the central role of customer-facing and service jobs in the labor market. Skilled workers and machine operators represent 29%, unskilled professions 18.4%, and managers, specialists and technicians 16.9%. For the hospitality industry, that breakdown reinforces how much demand is concentrated in restaurant and service roles, which remain the largest hiring need identified in the November survey.