In July 2023, the first significant collaboration agreement was signed between UIL Messina and the Research Center on Corporate Balance Sheets of the University of Messina (CeRBA).
The partnership aims to develop and implement a research project on "Employment dynamics and the trend of labor costs in companies in the province of Messina".
The study, which had an initial duration of 12 months and actively involved (according to the logic of the so-called Third Mission of the Universities) other bodies and institutions willing to provide data and testimonies, was aimed at analyzing employment dynamics and labor costs in the province of Messina in the three years 2019-2022.
After presenting the preliminary results, the UniME-UIL Messina agreement was renewed for a further 12 months.
The research focuses on various aspects of employment and business performance, with a specific focus on the province of Messina.
The analysis focuses, in particular, on the following aspects:
- Analysis of the number of employees by company, sector and/or territory;
- Relative and absolute variations in the number of male and female workers in the last ten years, examining these dynamics at the level of:
a) individual company;
b) sector of activity (according to the ATECO ISTAT 2007 classification);
c) territorial area (including a detailed analysis by province and municipalities). - Identification of the sectors with the largest number of employees, analyzing the data both in aggregate and analytical form;
- Analysis of labor productivity with reference to key indicators such as added value per employee, revenues per employee, and labor cost per employee;
- Impact of labor costs on company costs, with particular attention to the ratio between the costs of services and the cost of dependent personnel;
- Employment dynamics in relation to the economic performance of companies, with a specific study by economic activity sector;
"Observing company balance sheets, understanding the economics of the sectors, revitalizing the teaching of Business Economics"
On May 15, 2024, a seminar entitled "Employment and Businesses in the Province of Messina. What are the Prospects for Welfare?" was held at the University of Messina, which took place in the Aula Magna of the Department of Economics. The seminar placed the issues of employment and the dynamics of labor costs in the provincial territory at the center of the discussion.
The protagonist was the CeRBA (Center for Research on Corporate Balance Sheets) of the University of Messina, which, through a report by Prof. Antonio Del Pozzo, provided the database for a discussion that saw the participation of local, regional, and national managers of the UIL, including Ivan Tripodi, Luisella Lionti and Santo Biondo.
Companies' balance sheets are now considered among the most important "big data", representing a valuable source of information on the economic performance of companies, sectors, and the economy. Knowledge of the local economy through company balance sheets is therefore essential for both students and local institutional actors, who can use this data to guide their policies and strategies. In this direction, the UIL of Messina has supported and financed the project with a research agreement to also draw indications on the evolution of the production sectors.
The main objective of this initiative is to spread the culture of data in the interpretation of economic reality, considering balance sheets as a privileged source of information. Today, students ask to be able to become active protagonists of their own learning, experimenting and testing themselves, not just limiting themselves to listening. In this context, company balance sheet databases represent essential tools for experimental laboratory activities with which to fully exploit the most recent business intelligence techniques. The availability of balance sheet databases by universities and the potential of business analysis can be combined in experimental projects with great potential.
An innovative aspect of the project was the attempt to combine the data of the economic-financial performance of companies, appropriately aggregated by ATECO codes, with the trend of employment and labor costs, also comparing these data with those of INPS. To allow a benchmark, the balance sheets of companies in the provinces of Reggio Calabria and Reggio Emilia were also taken into consideration.
For the province of Messina alone, approximately 24,000 balance sheets of companies filed between 2019 and 2022 were examined, each containing approximately 50 items, with a very significant overall volume of data. Thanks to the use of business intelligence software, it was possible to effectively manage and analyze this large volume of data.