Italian Executive Market Reaches Record 134,000 Managers Amid Regional Gaps

The latest semi‑annual analysis of Italy’s executive market shows that private‑sector managers reached a historic high of 134,000 in 2025, a 2 % increase over the previous year. Growth is strongest in the services sector, which expanded 3.2 % in 2025, outpacing industry. Compared with Germany, France and Spain, Italy still has a low manager‑to‑employee ratio – less than one manager per hundred workers (0.9 %). The shortfall is most pronounced in SMEs, where only 30 % of family firms employ external managers versus about 80 % in the leading European competitors.

Geographically, the concentration of managers varies sharply: Lombardy and Lazio have ratios of 1.8 % and 1.4 % respectively, while the southern regions fall to 0.2‑0.3 %. The fastest‑growing regions are Tuscany (+4.1 %), Lombardy (+3.4 %) and Emilia‑Romagna (+2.9 %). The report, compiled by Adami & Associati using data from INPS, Manageritalia and other institutional sources, highlights a sizable untapped market for managerial talent, especially within Italy’s southern and SME sectors.