IT
PRESS RELEASE
The 2023 Report of the National Institute for Public Policy Analysis was presented at the Chamber of Deputies
LABOUR, INAPP: “SLOW RECOVERY, LOW WAGES, LOW PRODUCTIVITY, POOR TRAINING”.
- Between 1991 and 2022 real wages remained virtually unchanged with a growth rate of 1%;
- 25.5% Productivity gap with other G7 countries;
- Number of hires in 2022: 414,000 net new hires compared to 713,000 in 2021 but a positive balance of 550,000 employed in the latest Istat survey compared to January 2020;
- An ageing ‘workforce’: for every 1,000 workers aged 19-39 there are as many as 900 adult workers; in public administration jobs the ratio between young and older employees is 1:4;
- The phenomenon of ‘mass resignations’ is significant with more than 3.3 million people who have thought about leaving their jobs;
- More than half of companies (54%) claim to have hired new employees, but only 14% thanks to state incentives
- Further training is pursued by only 9.6% of the population
FADDA: “After the pandemic crisis, the dynamics of the labour market have started to grow again albeit at a slow pace due to both external factors, from the war on Europe’s doorstep to rising inflation and the energy crisis, but also to internal factors, such as low wages that are linked to low productivity and little training. What is needed are targeted and rapid interventions capable of steering the labour market towards more sustained growth, which cannot disregard the technological and digital revolution that is changing production processes.”
Rome, 14 December 2023 – After the crisis generated by the pandemic, the Italian labour market has started to grow again. However, this growth is rather ‘bumpy’ due to the structural criticalities that characterise the Italian labour market: low wages, low productivity, poor training and a welfare system that struggles to protect workers. There are no protection mechanisms for more than four million ‘non-standard’ workers, from the self-employed to those who have been laid off or are looking for a job, as well as gig economy workers to the so-called working poor. In addition, the labour shortage phenomenon is real with companies facing difficulties in filling vacancies, and the gap between labour supply and demand further growing.
These are some of the topics developed in the Inapp 2023 Report, consisting of 4 chapters and 260 pages, which was presented this morning in Montecitorio by the president of the Institute, Prof. Sebastiano Fadda.
“After the pandemic crisis, the dynamics of the labour market have started to grow again, albeit at a slow pace due both to external factors, from the war conflict on Europe’s doorstep to rising inflation and the energy crisis, but also,” explained the president of the National Institute for Public Policy Analysis, “to internal factors such as the low wages, which are linked to low productivity, little training. State incentives have also not brought the hoped results if we think that more than half of the companies (54%) claim to have hired new employees, but only 14% claim to have used at least one of the measures provided by the government. What is needed, therefore, are targeted and rapid interventions capable of steering the labour market towards more sustained growth, which cannot disregard the technological and digital revolution that is changing production processes.”
THE WAGE ISSUE
Between 1991 and 2022,” reads the Inapp Report, “real wages have remained virtually unchanged, growing by 1 per cent, in contrast to OECD countries where they grew by an average of 32.5 per cent. In particular, in 2020 alone there was a decline in real wages by -4.8%. This year also saw the widest difference between Italy and other OECD countries, with a decline of 33.6%. Connected to this issue is that of low productivity: since the second half of the 1990s, productivity growth has been far lower than in the G7 countries, reaching the biggest gap of 25.5% in 2021.
NUMBER OF NEW HIRES IS DOWN IN 2022 COMPARED TO THE END OF THE PANDEMIC BUT OVERALL POSITIVE TREND COMPARED TO JANUARY 2020
The number of new hires in 2022 was worse than in 2021: 414 thousand new hires in 2022 compared to 713 thousand in 2021. This number is confirmed to be higher for men (54% compared to 46% for women). Young professionals, after being deeply affected by the pandemic and the previous crisis in 2008, confirm have performed relatively well: 26% of new hires in 2022 fall in the 25-34 age bracket, followed by the 35-44-year-olds (21%) and the 45-54 year olds (20%).
THE INCREASINGLY AGEING ‘WORKFORCE
An additional factor is demography: the workforce and the population are ageing.
Whereas in 2002 for every 1,000 people aged 19-39 there were just over 900 aged 40-64, in 2023 the latter figure exceeded 1,400. For every 1,000 workers aged 19-39 there are as many as 1,900 older workers. By far the sector with the oldest workers is public administration (3.9 older workers for every younger worker), followed by finance and insurance.
MASS RESIGNATIONS, ALSO AN ITALIAN PHENOMENON
The number of employed people who intend to leave their jobs appears significant. It is estimated that 14.6% of those employed between the ages of 18 and 74 (over 3.3 million people) have thought about resigning. This share is made up of 1.1% who would do so even if there was a decrease in their standard of living and 13.5% who would only make this choice if they found other sources of income. The highest shares of those who intend to resign, regardless of the reason, are observed among those employed with a diploma (18.9%), decreasing with higher seniority and the size of the municipality of residence. Those who want to resign are more likely to be employees, working in medium-sized organisations (15-49 employees) and working in private enterprises. In the public sector, 1.5% of employees (compared to 1% in the private sector) would do so even if it meant a fall in their standard of living. The desire to change occupation is greater for those in more strenuous and less satisfying jobs.
HIRING INCENTIVES DO NOT WORK, WOMEN REMAIN PENALISED
A small percentage of companies (4.5%) claim that the introduction of the incentive scheme was important for their hiring decisions. The probability of using one or more employment incentive schemes is 50% higher for large enterprises (with more than 250 employees), while it drops significantly to 24% for micro-enterprises. Firms in the South are much more likely to use them: about 38% of firms in the South and 36% of those located on the Islands claim to have used at least one incentive, against 20% (on average) of firms located in other areas. In general, forms of facilitation affected almost 2 of the more than 8 million new contracts signed in 2022 or 23.7%. The most used incentive was the Decontribuzione Sud, which affected 65% of the new contracts, followed by Apprenticeship (20%) and incentives aimed at specific targets: Esonero giovani with 4.7% and Incentivo donne, which accounted for 4.8% of total employment. Despite the plurality of incentives in the field, none of these institutions managed to employ at least 50% women. Thus, the composition and relative gender imbalance remain unchanged. Moreover, 58.5% of subsidised hirings of women are part-time, against 32.2% of men. The use of incentives, therefore, reproduces the well-known scenario of lower female employment in terms of quantity (women account for 40.9% of subsidised hirings) and fewer hours worked.
APPRENTICESHIPS SHOULD BE REVAMPED
As far as work-based learning is concerned, Italy’s commitment to revitalising dual apprenticeship in regional VET pathways remains. However, dual apprenticeship continues to have little attractiveness for businesses and young people. The weight of dual apprenticeships remains residual at between 3% and 4% of the total number of apprentices in training. Moreover, the trend towards a concentration of apprentices for vocational qualification and diploma in a few macro-areas and a very limited number of territories persists: the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and Lombardy alone account for between 78% and 83% of apprentices in training. The perpetuation of these inequalities is a symptom of structural gaps that have never been resolved and introduces a further element of impediment to the increase in the use of dual apprenticeship. Moreover, unlike in other European countries, Italy continues to record a low utilisation of apprenticeships for higher education and research. In 2021, the number of apprentices enrolled in pathways leading to a tertiary education qualification was 609, down from the previous year. Again, there is a significant territorial concentration of apprentices in training.
FURTHER TRAINING FOR ONLY 9.6% OF WORKERS
Concerning further training, low levels of participation of individuals in training remain. The adult population aged between 25 and 64 who participated in education and training was 9.6% in 2022. This is an improvement compared to 2020 (+2.4%). Nevertheless, Italy lags behind other European countries with the corresponding European average value (11.9%), and our country loses further ground (-2.3%) compared to the previous year.
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GIANCARLO SALEMI journalist cell: 347 6312823
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