by EZIO MOTTERLE
If nothing else, the data released by statistics finally allows us to celebrate a May Day with a positive sign considering at least the number of workers. Labor Day with record employment in the province of Varese, 391 thousand units (56% men) at the end of 2023, 15 thousand more than in 2022. The expansion of the labor market has led to an increase in employment rates for both the male and female components. Today, considering the working age range from 15 to 64, the Varese employment rate is close to 70% (69.6%), in line with the Lombard regional average (69.3%) and far exceeding the national one ( 61.5%). Of particular importance is the return to work of women: after the minimum level reached in 2020 (56.2%) and linked to the difficulties of the Covid-19 emergency, female employment is on the rise, up to 61.7% reached last year. Despite this improvement, the gap with the male labor market (77.3%) remains high, over 15 percentage points. A positive effect is also the decrease in the unemployment rate which, again at provincial level, has fallen to 3.6%, approaching physiological values and well below the national figure of 7.7%. Overall, in the Varese area there are now 14 thousand people looking for work, 9 thousand women. The youth situation is improving: the unemployment rate for the 15-34 year old group, at 7.4%, is decreasing compared to the previous year (11.1%) and substantially aligned with the regional level (6.9 %). In particular, the working situation of young women is improving, with unemployment falling from 14.8% to 10.6%. The inactivity rate, the share of people who give up looking for work, is also decreasing. There are fewer and fewer people from Varese who are “discouraged” to the point of not even looking for a job: the percentage has fallen from 29.5% to 27.8%. The contracts stipulated were 124,800 in one year, with a favorable balance compared to the terminations of the employment relationship equal to 9,835 units. Positive numbers, processed by the Chamber of Commerce on Istat data, but many problems still open, as Wednesday’s demonstrations will remind us (in Varese, 9 am, procession from Piazza Repubblica to Piazza Monte Grappa).
