"The expectations of families on the general economic situation and on the labor market they have improved”. She writes it Bankitalia in the fifth edition ofExtraordinary survey on Italian families. The study was carried out at the end of April, before the easing of anti-contagion measures, with a series of interviews involving almost 2.500 households (the same ones who had participated in the fourth edition about two months earlier).
The analysis shows that, "compared to the survey conducted between the end of February and the beginning of March, the balance of responses relating to Italy's general prospects, while remaining negative, has increased significantly - explain the Via Nazionale technicians - The percentage of families expecting a worsening of the general picture in the following twelve months is decreased by 8 percentage points, leading to the 38%, the lowest value since the start of the survey in spring 2020. Expectations on the labor market in the following twelve months have also become more favourable”.
For the family economic situation, on the other hand, expectations "remained substantially unchanged compared to the beginning of the year - the Survey continues - Over 70% of households expect an income in 2021 in line with that received in 2020 and around a sixth believe it will be lower . Households with self-employed or unemployed head of households continue to be more pessimistic than those with employees and retirees, but the gap is narrowing”.
As in the previous edition of the survey, “30% of families declare that they have received payments in the last month a lower income than before the outbreak of the pandemic. The worsening of income conditions is still mitigated by income support measures: between March and April 2021 just over a fifth of households would have benefited from them ".
Surprisingly, according to Bankitalia, “most families believe that the value of its financial assets in 2020 remained stable”, while “a third claims that it has decreased, a share that reaches 40% among those whose head of household is employed in the sectors most affected by the pandemic (catering, tourism, retail) and doubles among those who reported a reduction in income compared to before the health emergency. Only 7% of households report an increase in the value of their financial assets during 2020: the increase mainly concerns families who declare that they can easily make ends meet".
