Covid causes new businesses to collapse: -75,000 in 18 months

Not just closures, the Covid-19 pandemic has also caused the birth of businesses to collapse. Between 2020 and the first six months of 2021, the openings of new economic activities fell by -13.3% compared to the pre-covid period, for a total of almost 75 thousand companies never born due to the crisis, of which about one third in trade and tourism. The alarm was raised by Confesercenti, on the basis of calculations conducted on the data made available by the Chambers of Commerce. The drop in registrations of new businesses, Confesercenti underlines, is the most evident effect of the health crisis on the fabric of businesses. While the refreshments and indemnities, in fact, managed to limit the closures of activities in the short term, the health emergency had a strong impact on the new openings. An impact felt above all in 2020: the year of the pandemic saw the birth of 61 thousand fewer companies than in 2019. But the decline continued, albeit to a lesser extent, also in the first half of 2021 (-14 thousand registrations). To discourage entrepreneurial adventures, Confesercenti notes, is, first of all, the uncertainty created by the prolongation of the pandemic and the limitations, boundless in the first half of 2021, which negatively affected the recovery in consumption. New entrepreneurs are faced with an extremely competitive environment, which requires start-ups to have greater skills and significant investments, starting with technology. Resources that it is difficult for companies starting from scratch to obtain through traditional credit channels. The collapse in the births of new businesses has involved all sectors of economic activity, albeit with different intensity. About a third of the new businesses that have disappeared are in fact in commerce and tourism, where compared to pre-covid almost 25 thousand activities are missing from the wholesale and retail trade (-11,641, -13.1%), housing (-1.854, -41.9%), catering (-6.855, -32.9%) and travel agency, tour operator and car rental services (-3.805, -17.3%). Significant losses from new openings were also recorded in manufacturing (-5.924), construction (-3.033), agriculture, forestry and fishing (-2.257), transport and storage (-1.854). The only exception is financial and insurance activities, which instead recorded an increase in registrations of new businesses (+1,504). New businesses are decreasing in all regions, albeit with significant differences at the territorial level. In proportion to the worst impact are Liguria (-18.4% of new registrations), Umbria (-17.3%) and Molise (-16.4%); the more limited damages are instead in Basilicata (-8.3%), Campania (-10.2%) and Sardinia (-10.4%). If we examine the absolute number of enterprises ever born, however, the regions that have registered the greatest decreases in enrollment are those in which the productive fabric is the largest. Black jersey is Lombardy, which has seen -11,469 registrations disappear. Followed by Lazio (-9.544 new businesses), Piedmont (-6.052), and Tuscany (-6.052), even if no region escapes the haemorrhage of new openings.