Report n.1/2026 of the Cnel regarding labor supply and demand in the fourth quarter of 2025. The Report addresses certain aspects resulting from specific in-depth surveys, whose specific details are not always highlighted. We therefore thought it useful to focus on them.
Employment rate higher for foreigners than for Italians and for men than for women
In fourth quarter 2025 the total number of occupied in Italy it stands at 24 million and 68 thousand units, with a employment rate stable at 62,4%Within the dependent workforce, a strengthening of employment is observed indefinitely (+1%), which records an increase for both genders. At the same time, employment is reduced fixed term (-8,6%), with a more marked contraction than the growth in stable relationships, particularly for men.
Among the Italians, il employment rate (not seasonally adjusted) stands at to 70,2% for men and 54,5% for women. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, a reduction of 0,5 percentage points is observed for the men and an increase of 0,6 points for the women. Among foreigners, the employment rate is equal to 76,7% for men and 48,8% for women, with increases of 0,7 and 0,4 percentage points, respectively. The unemployment rate stands at 5,5%, down from the fourth quarter of 2024 (-0,5 percentage points). Differences by citizenship and gender also emerge: among Italians, the unemployment rate has decreased to 4,9% for men and 5,3% for women, with changes of -0,3 and -0,8 percentage points, respectively, compared to the same quarter of 2024. Among foreigners, the unemployment rate stands at 8,3% for men and 9,9% for women: for foreign men, there was an increase of 0,3 percentage points, while for foreign women, there was a decrease of 2,2 percentage points. Overall, the unemployment rate is 5,3% for men and 5,8% for women, with decreases of 0,2 and 1,0 percentage points, respectively.
The territorial divisions
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the main indicators of the labour market show differentiated trends among the various sectors territorial divisions of the country compared to the same period of the previous year. As regards the employment rate, the variations are overall limited: in North part and in Noon the rate remains substantially stable, in Centro An increase of 0,4 percentage points was recorded. More marked trends emerged in the unemployment rate. A decrease of 0,4 percentage points was recorded in Central Italy, while the reduction was more significant in Southern Italy, amounting to 1,4 percentage points. In the North, by contrast, the unemployment rate remained unchanged. A combined analysis of the indicators, including the inactivity rate, highlights how the decrease in unemployment, particularly in the Southern regions, was not accompanied by a corresponding increase in employment. In Southern Italy, in fact, the reduction in unemployment was accompanied by an increase in the inactivity rate of 0,8 percentage points, indicating an increase in the share of people who are not working and are neither actively seeking employment nor immediately available to start one.
The gender gap in the territory
Even in the year 2025 the gender gap between the male and female employment rate does not show a significant decrease, standing at 17,4 percentage points (-0,4 pp. compared to 2024). The national average is the result of a marked territorial heterogeneityWhere employment levels are highest, in the Central and Northern regions, the gender gap is lower than the national average, albeit with great variability: the autonomous province of Trento, Valle d'Aosta, and Marche are less than 10%, while Veneto and Lazio exceed 16%. In Southern Italy, characterized by lower employment levels for both men and women, a significantly higher gender gap is recorded: Puglia, Campania, and Sicily are over 25 percentage points, while Basilicata and Calabria exceed 23 points. Abruzzo stands out, on the one hand, for male employment rates comparable to those of Central and Northern regions, and on the other for a gender gap aligned with Southern regions, with a gap of almost 20 percentage points. Among the Southern regions, the only exception is Sardinia, with a gender gap of 14 percentage points.
Employed men and women by economic sector
In the year 2025 the distribution of employment by economic sector shows a differentiation between men and women in the sectoral composition of work. The female component It is mainly concentrated in the service sector, equal to 84,2% of the total, with over 2 million employed in trade, hotel and restaurant sector and 6,5 million in other activities. male component, instead, it is more distributed: in addition to the sector of services which employs more than 8 million workers, the presence of men is also significant in theindustry in the strict sense and in the construction with approximately 5 million employed.
Looking at changes compared to the annual average for 2024, a general increase in male employment emerges, with the sole notable exception of the industrial sector, where a 1,6% decrease was recorded. A significant counterbalance is the construction sector, which—driven by public incentives—increased by 5%. Female employment, however, experienced moderate growth across all sectors, around 1%, with a significant decline in agriculture, forestry, and fishing (-2,7%), which, however, affects approximately 2% of female workers.
Generational gaps: older age groups are improving
In the comparison between 2025 and 2024, the labor market highlights differentiated dynamics between different age groups, with signals of improvement for the older age groups and critical issues for the younger generations. For young people between 15 and 24 years oldI record a decrease employment rate of 1,8 percentage points, accompanied by an increase in the inactivity rate of 2,2 points and a slight increase in unemployment. This trend signals a weakening of youth participation in the labor market. In the 25 34-years The changes are more limited, with indicators remaining largely stable and a slight deterioration in terms of employment and inactivity. For the 35-49 age group, the situation is generally stable, with a slight improvement in both the employment rate and the unemployment and inactivity rates.
More favorable trends emerge for the population aged 50 and over, for which a registration is registered increase in the employment rate equal to 1,8 percentage points, accompanied by a reduction in unemployment (-0,5 percentage points) and a decrease in inactivity (-1,5 percentage points).
Distribution of NEETs in the territory
The comparison between the territorial divisions of the NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training, are young people between 15 and 29 years old or even up to 34 who are not in education, employment or training, ed) shows significantly levels more content in the North, particularly in the Northeast, while significantly higher values are recorded in the South. The territorial gap is particularly wide and confirms greater difficulty in accessing the labor market and training programs in the southern regions.
The incidence of NEETs is higher among young people with a diploma, followed by those with lower levels of education and generally decreases among graduates. The only exception is Central Italy, where the percentage of NEETs is higher among those with tertiary education than among those with no qualifications or with elementary and middle school levels of education, probably due to the mismatch between labor supply and demand. gender gap It is present in all areas and at all levels of education, highlighting a greater vulnerability for women, who are more frequently exposed to the risk of inactivity and marginalization than men. The distribution of NEETs therefore reflects the interaction between territorial and socio-educational factors, with a higher concentration in Southern Italy.
