Work, health, resources, equity: a pact between generations is needed

« We are in a phase of the history of humanity that has never been experienced before: the elongation of life and coexistence between so many generations. Europe, and Italy in the first place, are ahead at this stage: it is a challenge that must be faced in the right way ». As Francesco Billari, rector of the Bocconi University, yesterday opened the second edition of Pact4fure, The initiative of Corriere and Bocconi to imagine together with companies, institutions and citizens a more inclusive and sustainable future that passes through the three keywords of today and tomorrow: People, Purpose and Planet.

We started from the first dimension, that of people and the pact between generations, to take a look at the future while we deal with the present. Because demography is changing, the population is getting older, less children are made and therefore, as Vincenzo Galasso, director of the Department of Social and Political Sciences of the Bocconi University, pointed out, « Public policies must be rethought because young people have too few resources and the elderly remain too isolated ».
In fact, according to Davide Serra, founder and CEO of Algebris Investments, « Italy is a country that looks to history: one should focus more on the future, starting from financial education, which should be taught in schools », he said.

Two delicate themes for the new generations are access to the labor market and wages. As Riccardo Barberis, President Northern Europe of Manpowergroup, highlighted, citing Istat data, « The only age group in which employment does not grow is precisely that between 25 and 34 years ». Following this reasoning, the president of the Triennale Stefano Boeri, cites Milan as a limit case, since « the scissor between wages and the cost of the city, starting from the rents and mortgages to buy a house, has been too narrow in a city that hosts 200 thousand students and has excellent universities ».

Young people and work was also the theme dealt with in the interventions of Intesa Sanpaolo and L’Oréal, while there was also talk of how to offer a dignified future for everyone, including the elderly. The challenges are manifold and complex, as Don Gino Rigoldi, president of the guarantee committee of the homonymous foundation. « The boys and girls do not need only investments, but also of policies that help them look with confidence to the future « commented. And education on central issues already in our present, such as climate change. « An important step has been taken, because the young people also participate in the COPs, » said the biologist Federica Gasbarro.

In the evening session, we returned to the theme of inclusion and the « cure » for everyone, with the interventions of Francesca Colombo dell’Ocese and Sister Alessandra Smerilli. And again, there was discussed science for prevention, with Alessia Melegaro, who directs the Covid Crisis Lab of Bocconi, and a new idea of ​​longevity.