Jobs are growing, but Italy has ample room for improvement

The approval of the Labor decree has inflamed the controversy over the world of work in Italy, with particularly severe statements on the risk of further aggravating a rampant condition of precariousness. However, the latest Istat data on employment describe a less catastrophic reality. In March, the job market moved little, but confirming the positive trend of recent years. Employed people are up by 22 thousand units compared to February (+0.1 per cent), and by 297 thousand units compared to March last year (+1.3 per cent). On a monthly basis, both permanent (+10,000) and temporary (+13,000) employed persons grew, with an increase involving both male (+10,000) and female (+12,000) employment. The total number of employed people rose to 23,349,000, the highest level ever, an increase which – underlines Istat – is due “to the growth of open-ended contracts and of self-employed workers, and against a decrease in fixed-term contracts”. The number of employed people is now the highest since historical series exist, a record that also applies to the data on permanent employees, which increased by 367,000 units in the last year (+2.4 percent). Compared to February, the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 per cent (-0.1), the youth rate to 22.3 per cent (-0.1). The positive trend is more evident if today’s data is compared with those of five years ago: in 2018 the unemployment rate was three percentage points higher (10.7 per cent). The inactivity rate, on the other hand, remained unchanged (33.8 per cent). The employment rate increased by about 2.5 points to 60.9 percent: it is a positive trend but one which nonetheless shows the main weakness of the Italian labor market. Despite being the second largest manufacturing economy in Europe, Italy has an employment rate 15 percentage points lower than that of Germany (75.8), and more than 10 points below the European average (73.1). There is still ample room for growth.