When you think of Italy, you think of rolling hills covered with olive trees, endless bottles of wine, steaming dishes of pasta and warm brick oven pizza.  Well as essentially Italian as pizza is, apparently young Italians find no appeal in taking up a career making pizza.

Recent statistics out of Italy show that even though almost 50% of young Italians are unemployed, there are over 6,000 openings in restaurants searching for a pizza maker. No pizza in Italy? Say it ain’t so!

What’s the problem? Some say that being a pizza maker has lost its cultural appeal as newer fields like technology become more glamourous.  Combine that with lower wages, longer days and the manual labor and it’s hard to find young people who want to take the job.

What’s the plan to keep pizza on the menu?  The EU has stepped in by paying students to learn a new trade, spanning from making pizza to carpentry. So if you’re worried about not finding pizza on your next trip to Italy, fear not. They’re working on it!