Southern contribution relief, incentives to hire extended to the end of 2023- Corriere.it

The European Commission has authorized the extension of the Decontribuzione Sud measure until 31 December 2023, in the context of the state aid regime. The Minister for European Affairs, the South, Cohesion Policies and the Pnrr, Raffaele Fitto, expresses great satisfaction with the decision and announces that work will be done to make it structural in dialogue with Brussels.

The extension to 31 December 2023 is very positive because businesses and workers will have more time and more resources, given that an increase in the measure has been authorized, underlines Fitto. The decontribution for workers in companies located in the eight less developed and transitional regions, with the aim of encouraging the hiring of young people under 36, and unemployed women, adds the minister. The measure already existed, explains Fitto, but its extension to the whole of 2023 was strongly desired by President Meloni. a provision requested by workers and employers’ organizations, and on which we will work immediately to make it structural through a constructive dialogue with the European Commission, concluded the minister.

How the relief works

The Decontribution envisaged by the August decree for 2020 and then extended provides that private employers whose headquarters are located in disadvantaged regions (Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sardinia, Sicily) may have a 30% exemption from social security contributions (no cut for the Inail ones). A reduction in the exemption rate is expected from 2026. The measure does not apply only to recruitment, but also to existing contracts, it does not apply to agricultural and domestic work. There is no individual limit on the amount of the exemption.

Over one million contracts in 2021

In 2021, the Southern Contribution was the most used form of recruitment facilitation, followed by apprenticeships, the most popular among young people, and by facilitations for permanent contracts, in particular the exemptions for young people and women, according to data from the Observatory of INPS employment and labor policies. This intervention generated 1.7 million contracts, representing 79% of the subsidies.