One week it’s about fashion, the next one about accessories, the third one all about technology. Not to mention the “green”, sustainable way of living, or days expressly dedicated to eastern cooking and aperitivo. This is what Milan is all about, take it or leave it: those who live in Milan would often like to leave, but those coming from outside or whose age is under a certain threshold, will definitely take from Milan – and will take abundantly. To the point that the social profiles of those who mooch all the good things the city has to offer always prove to be extremely successful. What happens as a consequence is that 600 people will make their appearance for the inauguration of a new store, which may require a police intervention!
But, is this all beneficial for the Lombard regional capital?
According to the economic data, it appears to be so, and the companies will benefit from it too, especially the small and medium ones, particularly in the artisanal and commercial sector. Let’s read some numbers.
According to Cna Lombardy, which makes reference to the Third Focus on the trend of regional economy – and which has been drafted by the Centro Studi Sintesi – the Lombard economy has begun to run again during 2023, catching up with and exceeding the results achieved before the pandemic, in 2019.
Among all the indicators that have been taken into consideration, during the month of July 2023 the positions regarding the GDP (+1.5%), consumptions (+1.6%) and investments (+3.1%) are the ones that stand out the most.
The growth forecasts for 2024 are still positive, even if numbers are more contained and slightly inferior to the expectations: in 2024 the Lombard GDP should grow up by 1%, consumptions by 1.6%, while investments should go down by 0.2%, also due to the current increase in the interest rates.
In this scenario, Milan – the following data refer to June 2023 – appears to be the province with the highest increase in new active companies, +3% as compared to 2019. We also have positive signals from the exportations front in the period going from December 2019 to March 2023: the regional centre is standing at +34%.
According to the quarterly Polis note on the job market in Lombardy (which is based on Istat data), it appears that the employment rate in the region is firmly standing above the national average. During the second trimester of 2023 the rate has arrived at 68.8%, growing up by 0,1 points from the previous one, and by 0,5% as compared to 2022. It is clear that the post-Covid recovery has widely taken place.
It is still the Polis which suggests that Milan has been the leading city especially in one sector: receptive tourism. Also in this case, the numbers speak for themselves: in 2019, the structures were 4700, with 13 million presences in the city. A decrease was to be expected in 2020 and 2021 (respectively, 3.5 million and little over 5 million presences) even with the unexpected data signalling an exponential growth in the number of the receptive structures - from 5 thousand to over 7 thousand. In this regard, the year 2022 has definitely marked a turning point: 10,600 structures and over 11 million presences.
In conclusion, it’s all about work, economy and having fun.
This is Milan, whether one likes it or not.