PESCARA. Abruzzo is the second region in Italy for the increase in employment in 2023 with almost 20 thousand more workers. And the province of Chieti is the first in the region (+12,500 in the last year equal to an increase of 9.3%), as well as the third best national performance after Catania and Massa Carrara. Pescara and Teramo are growing. Only L’Aquila has a negative sign (3,200 fewer employed between 2019 and 2023). But the regional capital has redeemed itself in a big way in the last year with a +1.9%. «It is a particularly positive moment for the job market», writes the Cgia Mestre in the report on work which it released 48 hours ago by processing the ISTAT data. It is positive «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 high qualifications”.
Historic record.
In 2023, in fact, the number of employed people in Italy reached 23.6 million units, 471 thousand more than in the pre-Covid period, of which 213 thousand involved the South, the geographical area that recorded the increase highest percentage in the country (+3.5 percent). In the last three years, Abruzzo has recorded 10 thousand more employees. Furthermore, forecasts tell us that the overall stock of employed people is destined to grow further, reaching 24 million workers at a national level by 2025.
EIGHT OUT OF TEN.
Also last year – underlines the CGIA Mestre – Italy reached an incidence of 84 percent of those who have a fixed-term employment contract (15.57 million out of 18.54 million) on the total number of workers 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%).
qualified personnel.
Finally, the number of highly specialized/qualified workers 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.
WHAT ARE THE CRITICAL ISSUES
But the CGIA warns that «despite the fact that we can count on these significantly important results, there are still critical issues that we struggle to overcome».
The main one remains the low employment rate; among the 20 countries of the Euro Area, 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, Italy has historically had lower salary levels on average than other EU countries, due to a very low level of labor productivity, a very high NEET rate and an employment rate relative to women most contained in all of Europe.
especially in the South.
In recent years (2019-2023) at a territorial level, according to the CGIA dossier, the regions of Southern Italy have recorded the most significant increases in employment.
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).
Abruzzo, in this case, is 10th with a +1.9% (+10 thousand units). However, if we compare 2023 with the previous year, Sicily leads the ranking (+5.5%) followed by Abruzzo (+4%, equal to +19,000 workers). At the provincial level, in the period 2019-2023, it is Lecce with a +16.5 percent (+36,500 units) that has 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).
In Abruzzo, in the long period 2019-2023, the first province is that of Chieti (20th in Italy with a + 5.6%) followed by Teramano (in 51st place with a + 2.4%), and by the province of Pescara (58th, +1.7%). But L’Aquila recorded a negative figure (-2.9%). In fact, not all of Southern Italy has been able to count on positive results.
Among the last places in the provincial ranking we find other areas of the South: in particular Sardinia and Syracuse where the employment contraction for both was -4.3 percent (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).
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