An army of 126 thousand "ghosts" that in Sardinia put 16 thousand regular businesses in difficulty.

These are mechanics, bricklayers, beauticians, installers, gardeners and other workers and artisans who carry out their activities on the island in an irregular or abusive manner, generating an undeclared sum of over 2 billion euros and subtracting business and growth opportunities from those who instead works according to the law.

The situation is photographed by Confartigianato Sardegna , underlining with concern that one out of every five workers on the island is partially or completely irregular .

The association also rattles off the numbers of the phenomenon: “These 126 thousand ghosts represent 6.6% of the regional added value in which there are no rules and which produces considerable damage to businesses, to consumer safety, to the state coffers . Of these 126 thousand entities, 32,500 is the estimate of irregular subjects, that is abusive operators who pretend to be entrepreneurs, but who have nothing to regulate, and as many as 94 thousand employees who with their work threaten more than 16 thousand companies, of which over 13 thousand artisans in the various sectors most involved ", highlights Confartigianato.
“They are like ghosts but they repair cars, renovate houses, do hairstyles, take photos and videos for weddings, tidy up gardens and transport furniture. All strictly in black, with no guarantees for their employees and customers ”, the association continues in its dossier, entitled “ Submerged and unfair competition from illegal self-employment ”and based on Istat data.

"Illegalism is a phenomenon that we have always opposed and fought with strength and determination - says Maria Amelia Lai, President of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna - and we are very worried that the island is in sixth place in Italy due to the irregularity of the independents, that the illegality rate is 17.3% (almost 1 in 5) and that this undeclared problem puts more than 13 thousand artisan businesses in difficulty which are under stress due to 2 years of pandemic, war, increase in raw materials and of the boom in energy costs ".