The Province of Treviso industrial character emerges clearly in calculating the amount of employees within the different macro-sectors. In fact, strictly speaking, the industrial impact average is of 47.8%, for 147,380 employees, which is about 7% above the Veneto Region average (41.1%).

However, while Treviso Province, with regards to the construction and commerce sectors maintains the Regional average, this percentage decreases of almost 5% in the services sector, where the production of services is only 26.4%, against Regional average of 31%. In fact, the percentage of workers employed in this sector is 15.9%, compared to the 1991 data of 16.1%. This points out a slow but nonetheless gradual contraction of the sector itself. Such a slight decrease also reflects the brittle role played by services within Treviso economy both towards commercial enterprises and towards local business links. Looking into general percentage values, figures tend to confirm such analysis.

The average growth on a Regional scale is confirmed to be 61.2%, while for Treviso and its Province district is calculated to be 56.1%; on the other hand, the amount of sector employees, both on Regional and on Provincial levels, upholds a 40% average growth. In fact, the number of employees is growing within almost every macro-sector: particularly, in the Treviso Province the percentage growth of employees in the industry and construction sectors (respectively +8.6% and +21.4%) has been greater than in the whole Veneto Region (respectively +8.6% and +21.4%). To be more explicit, while numbers of local units and enterprises are decreasing, these figures clearly highlight a swelling in the dimension of medium enterprises.

Dimensional Class To better show the professional concentration by percentage, it seems to be most suitable to assume the European Standard breakdown of dimensional classes as micro-enterprises (<10 employees), small enterprise (form 10 to 49 employees), medium enterprise (from 50 to 249 employees), large enterprise (>250 employees),. In fact, with reference to the overall economical activities, taking in consideration the micro-enterprise range class, Treviso industry employees represent the important figure of 43.8%, which is not too far from the Regional data of 45.9%. However, in 1991 these figures were greater (46.6% in Treviso and 47% in Veneto).

Nevertheless, small enterprise range in Treviso, being substantially stable since 1991, hold a 30.4% of the whole industry employees (28.3% is the Regional quota). From this point of view, the most interesting class range in the Treviso Province is represented by the medium-size enterprise: this range takes in the 19.4% of Province employees, and it has been increasing of the 3.7% since 1991 (15.7%). On the contrary, the 2001 the Regional data shows a figure of 17.3%, increasing only of 1.9% since 1991(15.4%). Finally, employees’ percentage in the Treviso large enterprises, if compared with the 1991 statistics, which was stated on a 7.9%, shows a decreasing figure of 6.4%. Veneto, on the contrary, holds an 8.5%, which is a quite homogeneous with the 1991 data: 8.6%. With regards to the number of local units employees, that are mainly ruled by enterprises in Treviso Province and Veneto Region, the fragmentation industries morphology, typical of the Italian North-East model, comes back again as a problem: on an average basis, within the decade 1991-2001, the number of employees within local units has been decreasing respectively from 4.3 to 4.2 in Treviso and from 4.4 to 4.0 in Veneto. Taking in consideration only large enterprises with 250 or more employees, an important distinction turns up: the average number of employees grows in Treviso (from 489.7 to 517.2), while is decreasing at Regional level (from 496.4 to 486.2). Moreover, focusing only on to the industrial asset within local units, Treviso and its Province record a larger concentration of employees in the construction (9.3%), in machinery (7.1%), in furniture (6.9%) sectors.

Data on a Provincial basis provide higher values compared with the Regional ones: employees within the machinery construction sector in Veneto are 5.6%, while in the furniture sector are 4.1%. Also, in Treviso there is a higher concentration of textile and wood sectors than in Veneto. With concern to commerce and services sectors, retail and wholesale trades, hôtellerie and other services, Veneto looks like slightly more specialised than Treviso. On the other hand, the number of employees falling under the voice “other skilled works” is substantially the same: in Treviso (7.6%) and in Veneto (7.9%). However, it worth to say that under “other skilled works” are included several other advanced services and sector activities. In particular, retails (7.2%) and the wholesale (6.1%) trades, which are included in the services sector, are productive activities quite important to the Treviso Province.

Much more distant is the hôtellerie as a side sector activity, representing only a 3.6% against the regional average of 5.4%. With such a different weight and services wide-spreading between geographical areas, however, it is not possible to have effective and representative figures, given the characteristic fragmentation affecting also this sector activity. Real estates together with insurance companies are the sole sections of services gaining importance in Treviso within this wide sector category, especially if it is compared to Veneto quota (respectively 2% against 1.7% for what concern the real estates sector and 0.4 against 0.2% for what concern insurance companies sector). in Treviso and in Veneto, if it is considered the 2001/1991 decade, the mechanical (+55.2% equal to the 7,737 of employees) and the plastic rubber (+52.3% equal to the 2,472 of employees) sectors are the ones that showed a most important growth percentage variations by local units, considering the absolute value above 1,000 industrial enterprise workers; on the contrary, the textile sector (-37.7% equal to a loss of 5,643 of employees) as well as the leather and shoes industry (-26.6% equal to a loss of 2,494 employees) are decreasing. In Veneto rubber industry (+47.0%) and the mechanic sector (+34.9%) are performing a similar positive flow with a relatively important growth in the employment of skilled workers; only the textile industry is considerably decreasing (-33%), together with the clothing sector (-28.1%). Treviso commerce and services sectors present the larger percentage variation in real estates activities (+218.3% equal to 3,938 employees) and ancillary activities to the transport sector (+137.6% equal to 2,221 employees).

The negative flow affecting insurance companies and pension scheme funds it is probably due to various reorganisation processes (and / or inter-enterprise flexibility) through which lately undergone one of the most important company in Treviso. The highest value of employment comes from the motor vehicle, trailers and semi trailers local units’ sector production with a medium average of 23.4% of employees. However, local units as such are only 54 in the whole Province with 1,265 employees. The industry class range that has marked a positive flow has been the one between the 100 to 129 employees size. Average of dimensional values in 2001 that have had a positive trend of about 20 unit employees are metals and its alloy productions, paper, printing and publishing industries, and production of machinery and mechanical devices, comprehensive of their installation and mounting procedures . In connection with such a positive trend, it is important to underline that, while there is in the machinery sector an increasing of the medium average of dimension since the 1991, an opposite flow has affected the production of metal and its alloy. The increasing of the medium enterprise dimension in the machinery industry is due, particularly, to a growth of enterprise classes beyond the door of 50 employees. Similar considerations can be done about the services sector. Insurance companies and pension scheme funds activities are reaching a higher medium dimensional value: 29.2% employees. Despite this positive data this figure seems to be about running down. In fact, since 1991 there has been an average of almost 50 sector employees per local unit. However, even in this instance, absolute values are still very low. Up to 2001, insurances and pensions sector local units, working within Treviso Province, are only 39 for 1,138 employees. Referring to institutions which have been assessed by the industry and services census, the Province of Treviso compared to Veneto in terms of proportion and percentage, during the decade 2001/1991 went through a slightly contraction process of almost every institutional sector; a slow increase is noticed only in the number of employees within the public services and in the number of staff of every institution within local units, in both categories public and non-profit. Moreover, Veneto percentage variations between 2001/1991, shows a growth in both: number of public institutions (160 units equal to +15.5%) and number of employees (+5.3%); in Treviso the new institutional bodies are 20 (+11.4%) with an increase of 6.8% of available work placements. However, on the other side, local units are decreasing (-2,407 in Veneto and -433 in Treviso). Non-profit bodies are rapidly growing within both the Province and the Regional borders, realising a positive flow beyond the 240%: in fact, the non-profit institutions score positive variation with an absolute value is of 15,255 in Veneto and of 2,670 in Treviso. Number of employees is growing beyond the 55% in each area considered: the absolute variation in Veneto is of 19,000 employees and in Treviso are 2,600.


Care of Ufficio Studi, Statistica e Biblioteca Source: "L'Economia della Marca Trevigiana", August 2005.