The post-Covid recovery marks 984,000 more jobs. And many more will be needed

If, as the central bank expects, Italy avoids a recession this year, the unemployment rate should remain stable: a level which, however, is still too high. The government should put gross product growth at the forefront, not its redistribution

One million jobs. Silvio Berlusconi promised them twenty years ago, it was Mario Draghi’s turn to reach the finish line. And we are talking about employees employed in the private sector, therefore excluding Public Administration, agriculture, VAT numbers, net of those who have left for retirement or because they were fired. The figure emerges from the joint note on the labor market by the Ministry of Labour, the Bank of Italy and Anpal, in which it is underlined that “the recovery has reabsorbed the fall caused by the health emergency”. Specifically, in 2021 new pay slips were 602 thousand more and in 2022 about 382 thousand more, in total it is +984 thousand. In the first eleven months of the past year the unemployed are decreased by about 120 thousand units, a significant though less pronounced decline than in 2021. In the second half of 2022, the slowdown in industrial production had a negative effect on the labor market and the number of unemployed started to increase again. If, as the Central Bank expects, Italy avoids a recession this year (Ignazio Visco spoke of a GDP rising by 0.6 percent), the unemployment rate should remain stable (8.2 percent compared to 8.1 of 2022). A level that is still too high, if one considers that unemployment in Germany is just 2.8 percent (November data). This should prompt government, business and trade unions to front and center the growth of gross product not its redistribution as it continues to do.