Italy’s "demographic winter" began in 1975. Today, Italy is the oldest country in the European Union, with a life expectancy of 83.5 years. For businesses, this translates into an ever-shrinking recruitment pool, an aging workforce, and increasing difficulty in finding the necessary skills.
According to a study by the UN Global Compact Network Italia, in collaboration with The European House – Ambrosetti—titled "Match Point: Bridging the Gap Between Skills, Demographics, and AI—Priorities for Italian CEOs"—44.8% of planned hires in 2026 will be difficult to fill, with wait times reaching up to 4.7 months. The challenge is particularly acute for technical and operational roles: the difficulty in finding skilled manual workers reaches 61.8%. The issue, therefore, is not merely how many workers will be available in the future, but rather which skills will be required to meet the demands of businesses.
It is from the convergence of these challenges that the central theme of the 11th edition of the UN Global Compact Network Italia’s "Business & SDGs High-Level Meeting"—held this morning in Milan—emerged. The event brought together CEOs, institutional representatives, and experts to discuss how to transform demographic and technological pressures into a new opportunity for productivity.
Leveraging existing human capital
In a market where identifying new talent is becoming increasingly difficult, the management of an organization’s existing human capital takes on a central role. An aging workforce compels companies to rethink continuous training, career paths, skills development, and the way work is organized for more senior employees—ensuring that longer working lives do not lead to a growing gap between an individual’s skills and the requirements of their role.
Furthermore, to attract and retain qualified talent, companies must increasingly invest in policies that make them appealing and competitive in the labor market. This involves striking the right balance between organizational well-being—encompassing job quality, flexibility, and work-life balance—and corporate welfare initiatives.
Supporting parenthood and fostering the potential of female employees also serve as key drivers of competitiveness. According to the study, the most common measure adopted by companies is flexible scheduling and structured remote work for new parents (68%), followed by parental leave that exceeds statutory requirements (42%), and programs to facilitate a smooth return to work—such as mentoring—following maternity leave (37%).
Female talent is a resource that businesses can no longer afford to leave untapped. In Italy, there are approximately 15 million economically inactive women—five million more than men—representing a pool of skills and labor that remains largely excluded from the productive system. Challenges related to parenthood also hinder their participation: 49.9% of women fear professional repercussions upon having a child, compared to 24% of men, while available nursery school places cover only 31.6% of children under the age of three. For businesses, fostering female employment is not merely a matter of equity; it means expanding the pool of available talent, addressing staff shortages, and strengthening competitiveness.
The competition for human capital also concerns the country’s ability to retain young people. Research indicates that between 2011 and 2024, Italy experienced a net loss of 441,000 young people aged 18 to 34—93% of whom were university graduates—with a peak of over 61,000 in 2024 alone. (1)
AI can offset demographic trends, but it also transforms work
In this scenario, artificial intelligence can serve as a lever to compensate for a shrinking workforce—enabling more to be achieved with the same number of people, automating tasks, and freeing up time for activities with higher added value. However, this technological transformation also risks widening existing mismatches: AI may replace or rapidly transform certain low-skill tasks, while simultaneously driving up demand for digital, technical, and hybrid skill sets. The study notes that between May 2025 and February 2026, the gap between the share of job postings requiring advanced digital skills and the share of the workforce possessing them grew from 14.6% to 18.6%.
Companies are responding with training programs, though the intensity varies: 38% of firms involve more than 30% of their employees in upskilling and reskilling initiatives—including AI literacy—while 27% involve fewer than 10%, and 13% involve almost no one. There is also a significant disparity in AI adoption based on company size: 53.1% of businesses with more than 250 employees use AI, compared to just 15.7% of those with 10 to 49 employees. Nevertheless, organizational transformation remains limited; only 3% of companies have delegated entire processes to technology.
The CEO Perspective: Skills Are Built, Not Found
The quantitative research findings are complemented by insights gathered through interviews with CEOs, who share a common perspective on the transformation currently underway. Skills are not simply found; they must be built. For CEOs, training has become a strategic infrastructure for competitiveness. Faced with labor shortages and the acceleration of technology, companies must invest in continuous learning and the reskilling of their workforce—including senior employees. In an era where working lives are extending, "longevity management" has emerged as a competitive lever: updating skills, fostering intergenerational exchange, and retaining the wealth of corporate experience helps preserve know-how, productivity, and innovation capacity. At the same time, it is essential to cultivate new talent in synergy with schools, universities, and the broader educational system.
The urgency concerns two closely linked challenges—skills and artificial intelligence—that must be addressed before they escalate into full-blown crises. Demographic factors are also playing an increasingly significant role in corporate strategy. Yet, according to research data, 44% of companies are facing a dual decline—in both demographics and skills—without having made adequate investments to tackle either issue.
Governing AI, not just adopting it
The challenge is not merely technological. AI brings with it environmental, social, and organizational impacts, ranging from the resources required to power these systems to the effects on skills, employment, and decision-making processes. The research indicates that these issues are not yet fully integrated into corporate governance: only 23% of companies have a structured coordination mechanism linking their demographic, skills, and AI agendas.
The challenge, therefore, is not simply to introduce artificial intelligence, but to govern its impact and guide the transformation of work—by investing in the people already employed within these organizations and in the skills that will be needed in the future.
(1) CNEL (in collaboration with REF Ricerche and Questlab), Young Expats: How to Bring Them Back, September 2026