I work, in Umbria more permanent jobs than pre-Covid. In 2022, employment will hold (+0.5%) and the number of unemployed who have lost their jobs will decrease

The Covid crisis has reduced male self-employment in Umbria, while compared to 2019 self-entrepreneurship has become an opportunity for women who have also seen the fixed-term contracts component grow. These are some of the elements that can be deduced from the analysis of the regional labor market carried out by the Aur researcher, Elisabetta Tondini, processing the Istat data on employment. The region is witnessing a progressive aging of the working-age population, but compared to the rest of the country, the Green Heart shines for the employability of graduates. As for the unemployed, the share of those in this position due to having lost their job is decreasing.

Considering the working age group, in 2022 there was a decline in the workforce between 25 and 49 years old, with 5,900 fewer employed than the previous year. 2,200 men in the 25-34 age group and 3,900 women in the 35-49 age group are missing. «The 2020 recession hit 35-49 year olds everywhere who are still far from recovering the 2019 levels – explains Tondini – however in the region there is a -7.1% contraction among 25-34 year olds, in contrast to what has occurred elsewhere» . An effect of what the economist Aur defines as “demographic thinning” of the age groups just mentioned. Between 2019 and 2022, in fact, 6,000 workers in the 25-34 class disappeared, 13,662 in the 35-49 class, with a percentage drop in both cases more pronounced than the national figure.
Analyzing the professional profiles, compared to pre-Covid, the female component of self-employment (+1.30%) and fixed-term contracts (+1.8%) is growing and the substantial increase in male permanent contracts is supported: six thousand males stabilized more than pre-Covid with a +5.9%. The regional employment horizon is also characterized, in 2022, by a drop in part-time employment which reaches 65,000 units: they were 69,000 the previous year, 73,000 in 2019. «The decrease in part-time contracts in the last year only affects the female component (-9.2%), given in contrast with the other areas – explains Tondini – and correlated to a generalized reduction of involuntary part-time work». Employment carried out only due to unavailability of a full time. In the last year, employees still held their positions (+0.5%) and overall the level of 2019 (+0.8%) was exceeded. «It is men who are growing continuously – Tondini points out – while women, in the last year, have decreased slightly».
The qualitative analysis of the workforce confirms a labor market dominated by the male component, also characterized by an above-average level of education. «The Umbrian employment structure by educational qualification – adds the researcher Aur – in 2022 retains its typical structure: a higher concentration of graduates, who exceed half (compared to a national 46.2%), a quarter of workers with tertiary education (a level that reaches 27.5% in the central regions) and 23.7% with a qualification that stops at the middle school (the lowest level compared to the other reference areas)». The data on educational qualifications is driven by female workers, given that the share of female graduates is 31.6%, in line with the Italian figure, while the less educated ones are at 17.6%, a lower level than the benchmark areas. Among males, graduates are less than a fifth while those who are positioned at a lower level of education rise to 28.5%. «The region is characterized by the highest rate of over-educated workers in Italy, 33.1%, compared to the national 26.0% – adds Tondini – which, for employed women, jumps to 37.2%, followed by distance from those of Molise (with 33.1%, compared to 28.1% of the national average)».
A final passage, which will be explored in an imminent focus of the Aur, concerns unemployment which grew in 2022 but the figure needs to be analysed. «As we will see from the data – observes Elisabetta Tondini – the number of unemployed people who have lost a job has fallen on a par with people looking for their first job. On the other hand, ex-inactive people have increased, overcoming the decline in the previous types: people who had withdrawn from the market in which today they are reappearing. Potential workforce not actively seeking employment or not available to work immediately.’ Read the full article
on The Messenger