Finding qualified health professionals capable of responding to an ever-growing demand for care will become increasingly difficult over the next decade. The problem does not only concern doctors and nurses, but affects a large number of figures who work in the rehabilitation, prevention, assistance and well-being of the person.
The flip side of the coin, one of the less serious consequences of this lack, is that – precisely for this reason – job opportunities in the health and care sector continue to increase.
Because more and more health professionals will be needed
The main cause of the growing demand for healthcare personnel is the aging of the Italian population. The over 65s, according to the latest Istat estimates, today represent 25.1% of the population, equal to over 14.8 million people, and the number is destined to grow. In fact, forecasts indicate that by 2050 more than one in three Italians will be over the age of 65.
This demographic change inevitably has an impact on the country’s healthcare system and demands for care. In fact, an older population requires:
- greater health care;
- more rehabilitation paths;
- increasingly widespread home services;
- prevention activities;
- interventions to maintain autonomy and quality of life.
Hence, the ever-increasing growth of specialized professionals. According to Unioncamere’s Excelsior information system, in fact, healthcare and personal services professions are today among those with the greatest difficulty in finding them.
More than six out of ten hires (over 60%) are complicated because companies and healthcare facilities struggle to find candidates with adequate skills. The reasons are different and, in addition to the insufficient number of qualified professionals compared to the demand, they also have to do with:
- the evolution of territorial services;
- the need for increasingly specialized skills;
- the misalignment between training and market demands.
And these critical issues concern both the public and private sectors and concern:
- hospitals;
- RSAs and rehabilitation centres;
- polyclinics;
- spa facilities, sports medicine and numerous entities dedicated to personal well-being.
The most sought after figures
According to the Assolavoro Datalab Observatory, in this sector over 50% of the demand for personnel is concentrated in professions dedicated to:
- rehabilitation;
- assistance;
- prevention.
These are figures who deal with the management of existing pathologies, but also with the promotion of well-being and the prevention of functional limitations that can compromise people’s autonomy. In recent years, attention has increased towards paths aimed at improving mobility, quality of life and psychophysical well-being.
For this reason, job opportunities are also growing in contexts other than traditional hospitals, such as:
- physiotherapy centres;
- rehabilitation facilities;
- sports medicine centers;
- spa establishments;
- Medical spas;
- centers dedicated to prevention and motor recovery.
From what emerged from the report on the labor market drawn up by Cnel, Unioncamere and Istat, approximately one young person in two encounters difficulties linked to the lack of alignment between the skills acquired during the training course and those required by companies. In the healthcare sector, however, this does not happen, precisely because demand continues to increase and because the need for personnel grows faster than the available supply.
This makes health professions among those that offer the most interesting employment prospects today.
