Italy: the manufacturing data behind a 2026 plant decision
Machinery and fabricated metal ahead of automotive, labour cheaper than the EU average, power dearer than it, and the lowest reported labour shortage of the ten Western countries. The Eurostat figures, with dataset codes.
Value added and employment
| Indicator | 2024 | 2025 | EU-27 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing gross value added (EUR bn) | 332.1 | 338.7 | 2,668.8 |
| Change on previous year | — | +2.0% | +2.0% |
| Manufacturing share of total gross value added | — | 16.8% | 15.8% |
| Employment, NACE C (thousand persons) | 3,954.7 | 3,922.6 | 29,901.6 |
| Value added per person employed (EUR k) | — | 86.4 | 89.3 |
| Productivity per hour, whole economy (PPS, EU-27=100) | 98.8 | 95.9 | 100.0 |
Eurostat nama_10_a10 (B1G, CP_MEUR, NACE C and TOTAL) and nama_10_a10_e (EMP_DC, THS_PER, NACE C), 2024–2025; productivity index from tesem160 (NLPR_HW, PC_EU27_2020_MPPS_CP), whole economy, 2024–2025. Value added per person employed = mfg GVA ÷ mfg employment, nominal current prices, not adjusted for price levels. Extracted 22 September 2026.
Italy produced 2.0% more nominal value added with 0.8% fewer people, and still slipped on the purchasing-power productivity index from 98.8 to 95.9 in one year — that index is whole-economy and price-level-adjusted, so it and the nominal manufacturing figures can move apart. Value added per person employed, EUR 86.4k, sits just below the EU-27's EUR 89.3k. The 352,446 registered manufacturing enterprises (sbs_ovw_act, 2023) include very large numbers of micro-firms and sole traders and are not a count of factories.
Where the value added sits
| Rank | Sub-sector (NACE Rev.2) | GVA 2023 (EUR m) | % of manufacturing GVA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Machinery and equipment n.e.c. (C28) | 46,649 | 14.1% |
| 2 | Fabricated metal products (C25) | 45,395 | 13.7% |
| 3 | Food, beverages and tobacco (C10–C12) | 36,708 | 11.1% |
Eurostat nama_10_a64 (B1G, CP_MEUR), 2023, extracted 22 September 2026. Shares are calculated against nama_10_a64's own NACE C total for Italy in 2023, EUR 331,429m, which differs marginally from the nama_10_a10 vintage used above.
Machinery and fabricated metal together are 27.8% of Italian manufacturing value added. Textiles, apparel and leather follow at EUR 29,634m, with motor vehicles only fifth at EUR 19,392m and rubber and plastics behind it at EUR 16,323m. Italy is the second-largest machinery producer by value added in this group after Germany: batch sizes small, part numbers many, changeovers frequent, and the losses concentrated in set-up, waiting for material and first-part quality.
What an hour and a kilowatt-hour cost
| Measure | Period | Italy | EU-27 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour cost per hour, NACE C | 2023 | EUR 30.5 | EUR 32.1 |
| Labour cost per hour, NACE C | 2024 | EUR 31.7 | EUR 33.8 |
| Labour cost per hour, NACE C | 2025 | EUR 32.8 | EUR 35.0 |
| Change since 2023 | 2023→25 | +7.5% | +9.0% |
| Electricity, band ID, excl. recoverable taxes | 2025-S1 | EUR 0.2277/kWh | EUR 0.1969/kWh |
| Electricity, band ID, excl. recoverable taxes | 2025-S2 | EUR 0.2177/kWh | EUR 0.1920/kWh |
Labour cost: Eurostat lc_lci_lev (unit EUR, lcstruct D1_D4_MD5, NACE C), 2023–2025. Electricity: nrg_pc_205 (siec E7000, nrg_cons MWH2000-19999 = band ID, 2,000–19,999 MWh/year, tax I_TAX, EUR/kWh), 2025-S1 and 2025-S2. Extracted 22 September 2026.
Italian labour costs EUR 2.2 an hour less than the EU-27 average and rose more slowly (+7.5% against +9.0%). Electricity goes the other way: EUR 0.2177/kWh in 2025-S2 is EUR 0.026 above the EU average and two and a half times the Finnish price, even after a 4.4% fall between the two semesters. In Italy the input under pressure is power, not wages.
Hiring and labour shortage
| Measure | Italy | EU-27 |
|---|---|---|
| Job vacancy rate, NACE C, 2025 (2024) | 1.5% (1.7%) | 1.5% (1.8%) |
| Quarterly vacancy rate, 2025-Q3 / 2025-Q4 | 1.4 / 1.3 | 1.5 / 1.5 |
| Labour limiting production, 2026-Q2 / 2026-Q3 | 5.4% / 5.1% | 15.8% / 18.0% |
Job vacancy rate: Eurostat jvs_a_rate_r2 (NACE C, sizeclas TOTAL, unit AVG_A), 2024–2025, and jvs_q_nace2 (indicator JVR, NACE C, NSA), 2025-Q3 and 2025-Q4. Labour as a factor limiting production: ei_bsin_q_r2 (indic BS-FLP3-PC, s_adj NSA), 2026-Q2 and 2026-Q3 — 2026 quarters, not on the same time base as the annual rate. Extracted 22 September 2026.
Italy is the outlier of the ten. 5.1% of manufacturers named labour as a factor limiting production in 2026-Q3, the lowest in the group and about a quarter of the Dutch figure (26.6%), and it fell quarter-on-quarter while the EU-27 rose from 15.8% to 18.0%. The vacancy rate is at or below the EU average on both the annual and the quarterly series. Whatever is holding Italian output back, the statistics do not say it is staffing.
AI and ICT adoption
14.7% of Italian manufacturers with 10 or more employees used at least one AI technology in 2025, against 8.0% in 2024 and 17.3% for EU-27 manufacturing (isoc_eb_ain2, E_AI_TANY, PC_ENT, GE10, NACE C). Across all sectors the figure was 16.4% against an EU-27 20.0% (isoc_eb_ai). Eurostat broadened the AI question battery for the 2025 wave, so the jump between the two years is partly methodological and should not be quoted as growth. Italy sits below the EU manufacturing average and above Poland (7.7%) and Romania (3.2%). The Digital Intensity Index was not retrieved for Italy in this extraction and nothing is put in its place.
What this means for a plant here
- The case is margin per staffed hour, not scarcity. With 5.1% of manufacturers labour-limited and a 1.5% vacancy rate, no one is going to argue that measuring the line releases hours you cannot otherwise fill. The argument that works in Italy is the contribution margin on the hours already paid for — and at EUR 32.8 an hour, those hours are cheaper than in Germany but not cheap.
- Energy is the moving cost. EUR 0.2177/kWh, EUR 0.026 above the EU-27 average. Energy per part and energy drawn while a machine is idle are worth metering here; in Spain (EUR 0.1431) the same argument is much weaker.
- Design the loss record for a job shop. Machinery and fabricated metal are 27.8% of value added. A record that only counts stopped minutes will not separate set-up from material waiting from first-part rework — and in high-mix work those three behave completely differently.
- Watch the productivity index, not just the euros. Nominal value added rose 2.0% but the PPS productivity index fell from 98.8 to 95.9. Growth that comes from prices rather than output per hour does not survive the next downturn.
- Where the next question is how to fund the equipment or the software, Italian capital-allowance and subsidised-credit routes are covered separately at factoryoptimizationai.com/we/.
- Western European manufacturing in 2026: the data
- Germany: the manufacturing data
- Spain: the manufacturing data
- Portugal: the manufacturing data
- Netherlands: the manufacturing data
Every indicator on this page for 17 European countries and EU-27, each row carrying its Eurostat dataset code and link. Excel.
Questions
- Which is Italy's largest manufacturing sub-sector?
- Machinery and equipment n.e.c., EUR 46,649m of gross value added in 2023, 14.1% of Italian manufacturing (Eurostat nama_10_a64). Fabricated metal products is second at EUR 45,395m and food, beverages and tobacco third at EUR 36,708m. Motor vehicles is fifth at EUR 19,392m.
- Why do Italian manufacturers report so little labour shortage?
- Eurostat does not explain why, only what: 5.1% named labour as a factor limiting production in 2026-Q3, against an EU-27 figure of 18.0% and a Dutch figure of 26.6% (ei_bsin_q_r2, indic BS-FLP3-PC). The manufacturing job vacancy rate tells the same story at 1.5% for 2025, equal to the EU-27 average.
- How much does an hour of Italian manufacturing labour cost?
- EUR 32.8 in 2025, up from EUR 30.5 in 2023, a rise of 7.5% (lc_lci_lev, unit EUR, lcstruct D1_D4_MD5, NACE C). The EU-27 figure is EUR 35.0 and rose 9.0% over the same two years, so Italian labour is both cheaper than the EU average and rising more slowly.
- Is Italian industrial electricity expensive?
- Above the European average. Band ID, 2,000 to 19,999 MWh a year, excluding recoverable taxes, was EUR 0.2177 per kWh in 2025-S2 against EUR 0.1920 for the EU-27 (nrg_pc_205). It fell 4.4% from 2025-S1, one of the larger falls in the group, but remains roughly 2.5 times the Finnish price.
- How many Italian manufacturers use AI?
- 14.7% of those with 10 or more employees in 2025, below the EU-27 manufacturing average of 17.3% (isoc_eb_ain2, E_AI_TANY). The 2024 figure was 8.0%, but Eurostat widened the question set for the 2025 wave, so the difference between the two years is not an adoption rate.
Sources
- Eurostat nama_10_a10 — gross value added, NACE C and total (2024–2025)
- Eurostat nama_10_a10_e — employment, domestic concept, NACE C (2024–2025)
- Eurostat nama_10_a64 — value added by manufacturing sub-sector (2023)
- Eurostat sbs_ovw_act — number of enterprises, NACE C (2023)
- Eurostat lc_lci_lev — hourly labour cost, NACE C (2023–2025)
- Eurostat nrg_pc_205 — electricity prices, non-household consumers (2025-S1, 2025-S2)
- Eurostat jvs_a_rate_r2 — annual job vacancy rate, NACE C (2024–2025)
- Eurostat jvs_q_nace2 — quarterly job vacancy rate, NACE C (2025-Q3, 2025-Q4)
- Eurostat ei_bsin_q_r2 — factors limiting production, labour (2026-Q2, 2026-Q3)
- Eurostat isoc_eb_ai — enterprises using AI, all sectors (2024–2025)
- Eurostat isoc_eb_ain2 — enterprises using AI, NACE C (2024–2025)
- Eurostat tesem160 — labour productivity per hour worked, PPS, EU-27 = 100 (2024–2025)
Published by TEEPTRAK SAS, which makes production-monitoring and OEE software. Every figure is sourced on the page. Funding rules, standards and reporting duties change: check the official documents before you budget or commit.