Milan, 27 April 2024 – The lack of jobs now seems like a distant memory for large areas of the country. The current one is a moment particularly positive for our job market. Both for the historical record of employed people and for the increase in the number of those who have a permanent employment contract and, finally, also for the increase, especially in the last year, of staff with high levels of qualification .
Historical record of employed
In 2023, in fact, the number of employed people in Italy reached 23.6 million of units, 471 thousand more than in the pre-Covid period, of which 213 thousand affected the South which was the geographical distribution that recorded the highest percentage increase in the country (+3.5 percent). Furthermore, forecasts tell us that the overall stock of employed people is destined to grow further, reaching 24 million workers by 2025.
84% of employees have a permanent contract
Also last year, we achieved an incidence of84 percent of those who have a fixed-term employment contract (15.57 million out of 18.54 million) out of the total number of employees. If we compare the number of permanent employees in 2023 with the same data as the pre-pandemic period, the increase was 742 thousand units (+5 percent).
Qualified personnel is increasingly required
Finally, the number of highly specialized/qualified workers has increased in the last year by 5.8 percent (+464 thousand), equal to 96.5 percent of the new jobs created in 2023; while compared to 2019 the change remains positive (+2.3 percent), but more contained than the previous year (+192 thousand) with an impact of 40.7 percent on the new jobs created in the last four years.
Many critical issues still remain
Although we can count on these significantly important results, there are still some critical issues that we struggle to overcome. The main one remains the low employment rate; among the 20 Euro Area countries, Italy brings up the rear with a “miserable” 61.5 percent, compared to a Eurozone average of 70.1 percent. The trend recorded by self-employed workers should not be overlooked either; compared to 2019, they fell by 223 thousand units (-4.2 percent), despite the fact that in the last year there was a slight sign of recovery of +62 thousand units (+1.3 percent). Not to mention that, unfortunately, we have historically had wage levels that are on average lower than other EU countries, due to a very low level of labor productivity, a very high NEET rate and an employment rate for women that is lower than all of Europe. These are some flashes on the Italian labor market that were taken by the CGIA Research Office.
Compared to pre-Covid, employment has grown especially in the South
In recent years at a territorial level there are the regions of the South to have registered the most significant employment increases. Compared to 2019 Puglia recorded a notable +6.3 percent (+77 thousand units), followed by Liguria and Sicily both with +5.2 percent (the first with +31 thousand units and the second with +69 thousand), Campania with +3.6 percent ( +58 thousand units) and Basilicata with +3.5 percent (+7 thousand units).
At the provincial level, however, it is Lecce with +16.5 percent (+36,500 units) to have achieved the most significant percentage increase in the country compared to the pre-pandemic period. Followed by Benevento with +12.4 percent (+10 thousand units), Enna with +11.2 percent (+4,800 units), Frosinone with +10.9 percent (+16,600 units) and Ragusa with +9.4 percent (+10 thousand units). However, not all of Southern Italy has been able to count on positive results.
Among the last places in the provincial ranking we see other realities from the South: in particular Southern Sardinia and Syracuse where the employment contraction was -4.3 percent for both (the first with -4,900 units and the second with -5 thousand), Caltanissetta with -5.2 percent (-3,400 units), Sassari with -6.8 percent (-12,600 units) and, finally, the Marche province of Fermo closes the ranking with -7.9 percent ( -6 thousand units).
