Who Actually Works the Winter Games?

Opening Ceremonies for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics are February 6, launching a flurry of storylines. 

Stakes are high for men’s ice hockey, where NHL players are finally returning to the ice for the first time since Sochi 2014. Chloe Kim is eyeing a three-peat in women’s snowboarding halfpipe, a feat never before accomplished. The introduction of “skimo” (ski mountaineering) headlines a slate of new events that also includes new formats for luge, ski jumping, skeleton, and freestyle and alpine skiing. Veteran Italian ice dancers Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri—who have never medaled—are trying to secure a hometown win at their very last Olympics.

Plus, this is Milan. Expect the most fashion-forward Opening Ceremony in history.

But when you look at the world like Lightcast does, the most interesting stories aren’t about the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat—instead, we want to know who’s going to do the work. 

Behind the athletes and the cameras, there is a massive economic machine turning. Some of our Milan-based economists and researchers at Lightcast analyzed the labor market data to see exactly what it takes to put on a show of this magnitude. Want to read this post in their native Italian? (click here)

1. It’s a Sprint, Not a Marathon

Milan was awarded the Games back in 2019, giving the region seven years to prepare. You might expect a long, slow ramp-up in hiring.

The data shows the opposite. Demand for Olympic-related jobs only started rising steadily in the last twelve months, and the real spike didn’t hit until about three months ago.

This mirrors exactly what we saw with the Paris Summer Olympics in 2024. The employment opportunities for these mega-events are enormous, but very narrowly focused on a small window of time, creating an intense burst of hiring activity.

2. Countries Compete To Host, But Smaller Regions Reap the Reward

When countries bid for the Olympics, "job creation" is usually the headline argument. The Italian government has invested about €3.5 billion in 98 infrastructure projects supporting these Olympics: 47 sports facilities and 51 transportation projects. 

That burden is shared by all Italian taxpayers. But are the job-creation benefits really felt country-wide?

Lightcast job postings suggest the impact is far more concentrated.

The jobs are clustering exactly where one might expect:

• 33% of postings are in Milan.

• 11% are in the Belluno province (home to Cortina d’Ampezzo).

• The next highest concentrations are in Sondrio and Trentino, the other key hosting provinces.

The economic "burden" and the labor "boom" of the Olympics are hyper-localized. It’s not really Italy hosting the games; it’s a specific corridor of Northern Italy.

3. Staffing Agencies Are Carrying the Torch

In a typical year, about 42% of all job postings in Italy are recruited via staffing agencies. For the Olympics? That number jumps to over 80%.

This makes sense when you consider the findings above. Because the work is so condensed and the volume is so high, direct hiring becomes a logistical nightmare for organizers. They need thousands of people, they need them now, and they only need them for a month.

The Takeaway for 2028

As the torch eventually passes from Milan to Los Angeles for the 2028 Summer Games (then the French Alps in 2030, Brisbane in 2032, and Salt Lake City in 2034), Italy offers useful insight. 

The logistical burden falls heavily on local and regional authorities: for any massive project (even if it’s not Olympic-sized) regions must use labor market data to audit local skill availability and create reliable talent pipelines well in advance, and also create recruitment strategies that can bring in thousands of new workers. The more data you have available on what workers you have and who you’ll need, the better prepared you will be.

For now, all eyes are on Milan. The athletes are ready, and thanks to a massive surge in hiring over the past three months, the workforce is too.

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