IT
PRESS RELEASE
INAPP: “RISE IN OLDER WORKERS IN ITALY, 37% ARE OVER 50 YEARS OLD”
They were 21% in 2005 and 27% in 2012 – Collaboration between Inapp and Presidency of the Council of Ministers – Department for Family Policies kicks off
Rome, Nov. 10, 2023 – Boom of older workers in Italy. In 2022, 37% of workers were between 50 and 64 years of age. These workers amounted to 21% in 2005 and 27% in 2012. More than one in four entrepreneurs see the ageing of their staff as a disadvantage, which would undermine their ability to manage workloads or employ new technologies, adapt to new tasks and be flexible in terms of working hours. Additionally, 41% believe that the digital skills of older workers are inadequate and more than half believe it would be useful to develop them further.
Against the backdrop of an ageing country, the operational phase of the three-year Collaboration Agreement, signed on Dec. 31, 2022, between the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (Department for Family Policies) and the National Institute for Public Policy Analysis has begun.
The work programme was presented during the opening meeting at the headquarters of the Department for Family Policy. On the occasion, the project partners shared goals and activities to be implemented over the next three years, starting with the identification and implementation of policies and strategies to promote active ageing capable of meeting emerging needs and requirements in light of the country’s demographic trends.
According to a recent Inapp survey of a sample of 2,500 small and medium-sized enterprises, representative of more than 150,000 Italian SMEs, more than 20% of entrepreneurs have encountered staff ageing in the past 5 years. Among them, precisely, more than 28 percent consider the increase in staff age a disadvantage. The Inapp-Plus 2022 survey, moreover, shows that among the over-50s who are inactive but of working age and not yet retired, the main reason for leaving or losing their last job was involvement in caring for family members (31%), particularly child care (27%), and that in the same age group, 52% are those who have been continuously looking for work for more than a year.
Labour is only one of the aspects of ageing that will be addressed by this collaboration. Not least because critical issues related to ageing are also captured on other fronts. Data from the Silver Steps Surveillance, for example, show that 18% of the over-64s care for cohabitants, 13% care for family members or friends with whom they do not live, and 4% participate in volunteer activities. However, disability affects 13% of the elderly (41% of the over 84s) and is more common among women and those disadvantaged by economic status or low education level. In addition, 15% of the elderly live in social isolation, without meeting or talking on the phone with someone or participating in activities with other people over the course of an entire week. Disability and isolation are the main causes of depressive symptoms (9% ) and dissatisfaction (18%) for the elderly.
The picture that emerges is complex and highlights the need for policies and measures that tackle some of the issues caused by active ageing without disregarding the main determinants of economic and social inequality, including through a gender approach.
Inapp has been overseeing the topic of active ageing for many years and, in this context, it supports the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies in its participation in the UNECE Standing Working Group on Ageing, an intergovernmental working group, currently chaired by Italy, composed of representatives of the UN member states of the European Region, representatives of international organisations, non-governmental organisations and the world of research.
For further information:
GIANCARLO SALEMI journalist cell: 347 6312823
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