Work, over 100,000 jobs created at the beginning of 2023. But for female employment there are still few stable jobs

ROME. After the slowdown in the last part of 2022, employment accelerated in the first two months of the year. This was revealed by the joint Bank of Italy-Ministry of Labor-Anpal report, according to which over 100,000 jobs were created between January and February net of terminations, about a third more than in the same period of 2019, before the pandemic. The demand for labor was mainly driven by services. Benefiting from the drop in energy prices, the momentum in industry has also strengthened.

Employment growth – reads the document – in the two months concerned exclusively the permanent component; the fixed-term one remained substantially stable and apprenticeships recorded a drop of around 8,000 units. The recomposition of employment towards more stable forms of employment, which has been underway since last year, could be less intense in the coming months. The conversion rate of fixed-term positions into permanent contracts has stabilized over the last eight months; the share of new temporary contracts in total hiring has started to increase again.

Female employment: still few permanent contracts
After being penalized more than men during the pandemic crisis, since the end of 2021 women’s employment has grown to historically high levels. The high incidence in the two-year period 2021-22 of the demand for labor in the sectors of commerce, tourism and personal services, where the share of employed women is higher, has contributed to this dynamic. In the last two years, however, women have occupied only a third of permanent positions.