The Covid-19 emergency threatens to have very serious repercussions on the labor market. But if employees have so far been protected by the block on layoffs, the consequences of the pandemic have hit the free professions violently. In the first six months of 2020, over 30 thousand freelancers, mostly women, they were forced to leave their business due to the crisis triggered by the Covid. To these are added approx 170 thousand independent workers blocked by the first lockdown.
This is the sad photograph contained in the V Report on the Free Professions in Italy 2020” edited by the Confprofessioni Free Professions Observatory, coordinated by Paolo Feltrin, presented today in Milan during a streaming event attended by Tiziano Treu, president of Cnel; Antonio Misiani, Deputy Minister of Economy; the Undersecretary for Labour, Francesca Puglisi; the vice-president of the finance commission of the chamber, Alberto Gusmeroli; the parent company of Forza Italia in the Chamber, Maria Stella Gelmini; Michele Gubitosa of the parliamentary commission for simplification and Ylenja Lucaselli of the Budget commission of the Chamber.
Going into details, the professional sectors that have suffered the most the blows of the crisis are those related to trade, finance and real estate, which in the first quarter of 2020 recorded a contraction of almost 14% of workers. The professions in the technical (-5,7%) and administrative (-2,5%) area are also bad.
The budget is also tough for professionals with employees who in the first three months of last year recorded a decrease of 16,7% compared to the same period of the previous year.
From a geographical point of view, the decline is mainly concentrated in Northern Italy (-23,9%), where the number of freelancers without employees is also decreasing, and in Central Italy (-28,3%). In sharp contrast to Southern Italy, where the change is instead positive for both components and above all the number of employers is growing (+15,9%).
"The impact of Covid 19 on independent work - comments the president of Confprofessioni, Gaetano Stella – it was very heavy. In the first six months of 2020, the entire sector loses around 170 workers, of which 30 are freelancers. This decline should be evaluated keeping an eye also on the long-term dynamics. For structural reasons, in the last decade self-employment was already under pressure (about -735 workers), affected by a silent internal revolution in entry and exit flows. In the younger age groups, almost 1 million people are missing: a drop that is only partially compensated by the older age groups and by the new entries of graduates (+372), who are usually placed among the free professionals".
