ANCONA- Marche residents increasingly precarious and with intermittent contracts. The data says soINPS Observatory on precarious employment, developed by IRES Cgil Marche. «It’s a growth that worries us, that’s not how it goes – he states Giuseppe Santarelli, general secretary of CGIL Marche – and this is why the CGIL promoted referendums on work: they are an important tool for changing the social and economic model of the region and the country.” According to the data, in the first three months of 2024, companies in the Marche region hired 49,482 people0.3% more than the same period in 2023 and 3.4% less than 2022. Compared to last year permanent hiring decreased from 7501 to 7282 (-2.9%), just as apprenticeships (-16%) and temporary work (-13.9%) also suffered a decline. The increases in hiring with intermittent contracts, which went from 7532 in the 1st quarter of 2023 to 8447, with a percentage increase of 12.1% as well as seasonal hiring from 2957 to 3715 (+25.6%). The fixed-term contract is almost stable.
«The actions implemented by the Region – he underlines Eleonora Fontana, secretary of CGIL Marche – have led to further precariousness of the labor market. Interventions by the Regional Council are necessary. We have been denouncing for some time that European resources have only been used for spot measures.” In the 2024-2023 comparison, total hirings in the Marche show an opposite trend compared to Central Italy (-3.7%) and Italy as a whole (-1.1%). Of the total new hires, permanent ones represent a very small share (14.7%) and are constantly decreasing; the most common type of contract is the fixed-term contract (41.1%), followed by the intermittent contract (17.1%). In the Marche, the share of permanent contracts out of the total of those activated is clearly below the country average (20.0%): the region is second to last in terms of incidence of permanent contracts on new employment relationships. The incidence of fixed-term contracts on the total is also lower than the national average (44.9%). In reference to the activation of supply contracts, the regional value is higher than the national average (14.2% versus 12.2%). The region is also first in Italy for the highest incidence of intermittent contracts (17.1% against the national average of 9.2%), a typology which highlights a constant increase in its weight.
«In the Marche – continues Fontana – we are always at the top for the use of intermittent contracts. They are an indicator of precariousness and exploitation. The three-year employment plan had the aim of also reversing this scourge of the regional labor market, but it is obvious that it must be developed in a more incisive manner and tailored to the particularities of the Marche region”. Part-time relationships account for 30.9% of hirings. However, significant gender differences are confirmed: among men, hiring with part-time contracts is 20.1% of the total, while among women the percentage rises to 46.3%. The transformations of precarious contracts into permanent relationships have been 5.814, 1,225 fewer than the same period in 2023 (-17.3) and over 500 fewer than 2022 (-8.6%). «Companies – highlights Fontana – rather than hiring permanent staff or stabilizing temporary staff, tend to replace them by resorting to new short-term hires. The workers of the Marche region are strongly exposed to the risk of remaining stuck in a long precarious situation.” «Work must be protected because it is a constitutional right, safe because one must live and not die from work, dignified and therefore well paid, stable because precariousness is a loss of freedom that cuts rights and wages”, concludes Giuseppe Santarelli.
