Il employment rate in Italy is at an all-time high of 61%, with a significant increase in temporary work undetermined, signaling the country's strong resilience post-Covid. After the pandemic there was not the much feared wave of layoffs and the Naspi beneficiaries (unemployment benefit), as well as other social safety nets, in 2022 are lower than those in 2019. This is what emerges from XXII Annual Report of the INPS. Which takes a picture of an Italy of gaps between rich workers and poor workers, between women and men, between North and South but also in life expectations based on the role held during the career.
Employment at an all-time high, but below the EU average
According to the data presented by Micaela Gelera, extraordinary commissioner of the INPS, in 2022, the growth of the economy has favored a significant improvement in the conditions of the labor market. The activity rate and the employment rate are at historic highs, although slightly decreasing according to the latest data from July 2023. The contribution of women is significant. At a sectoral level, however, the recovery in employment developed in a heterogeneous manner, with construction who benefited from tax breaks, the manufacturing which has suffered the repercussions of the complexity of the international scenario services which have been affected by the slower return to growth. Given these positive data, as mentioned, the Italian economy pays a lot critical issues. Starting fromaging of the population which makes the social security system unsustainable with contributions alone, in addition to the persistent territorial gap between North part e South. Then there is a gap between work employee, increasing, and work autonomous, decreasing. And although improving, the main indicators of the Italian market remain below the average of the European Union countries, as well as France and Germany.
Voluntary resignations on the rise
The economic recovery has also limited the use of instruments for the protection of unemployment which, for employees, is at lower levels than those of 2019. The much feared wave of layoffs post-Covid did not occur and the naspi, as well as other social safety nets, such as illness and Earnings redundancy fund, have returned to carrying out an ordinary role of supporting the worker in temporary periods of inactivity.
The evidence of the phenomenon of voluntary resignation, which is growing strongly (+26% compared to 2019).
Salaries
The increase in employed workers and the recovery of work intensity are reflected in the performance of wages. The average daily salary of employees (excluding domestic workers and agricultural workers) is almost stable between 2019 and 2022 in the face of a contained inflationary phenomenon until 2021, with strong tensions from 2022, due to the war in Ukraine and the increase in energy costs, but currently decreasing. There are also strong differences depending on the intensity and type of work: smaller increases in average wages are observed in the construction, business support services (which includes temporary work) and accommodation and catering sectors. .
The contributory wedge
INPS also analyzed the effects of tax wedge cut, which acts directly on the contribution rate payable by workers. The analysis reveals an increase in the net amount on the pay slip of an average of around 30-40 euros per month in 2022 and in October 2023 the gross increase would be around 100 euros, with an important weight considering that the average monthly salary is of 1.500 euros. While for full time and full month workers - who work full time and all year round - the average amount of exemption would even reach 123 euros.
Life expectancy
Workers have 5 years less life expectancy at 67 than managers: 16 years versus 20,9 years. More generally, pensioners who belong to the first income quintile have a life expectancy at 67 years of age approximately 2,6 years less than those who belong to the quintile with the highest income, but the difference grows depending on the sector in which one worked and the tasks held.
Businesses
The recovery of the economy favored the further increase of the number of insured businesses, which rose to 1,55 million in the third quarter of 2022, from 1,47 million at the beginning of 2018, and then decreased slightly in the final part of the year, recovering, however, what was lost in 2020. During the pandemic, the support for businesses have prevented the closure of companies, the number of which has suffered only a moderate decline compared to the complexity of the crisis.
In 2022, the large and rapid growth in inflation does not appear to have had a significant effect on business demand for labor. Only in the second part of the year was there a slight worsening, with a reduction in the creation of new jobs and an increase in the destruction of existing ones.
Pension spending
In the 2022 i pensioners Italians were around 16,1 million, slightly higher than in 2021, for a cost of almost 322 billion of which a share of 315 billion is supported by INPS. 52% of pensioners are women who receive on average an amount 38% lower than that obtained by men. In 2022, a 3% decrease in new social security benefits was recorded, mainly due to the decline in early pensions resulting from the conclusion of 100 quota (the possibility of retiring with a minimum of 62 years and 38 years of contributions). He then witnessed a decrease in survivor's pensions, presumably due to the deaths caused by the pandemic.
The average retirement age has increased over the last ten years. That of men went from 62 in 2012 to 64,2 in 2022, while that of women went from 61,3 to 64,7. The overtaking of that of men by that of women is linked to the widespread discontinuity of their careers which leads to delays in achieving the contribution requirements for early retirement.
The effects of inflation on families and pensioners
THEinflation in 2022 it reached 8,1%, reflecting the tensions of the international scenario, with the increase in raw material prices and bottlenecks on the supply side, which have made the procurement of some intermediate goods complex. As a result, households' disposable income temporarily fell, in real terms, by 1,2%.
The increase in prices has, as highlighted by the INPS, affected the household purchasing power differently, especially between families of employed workers and those of pensioners. The latter are the ones most affected by the surge in inflation in 2022, especially those belonging to the poorest two-fifths of spending, who lose 2018% of real income between 2022 and 10,6 (a loss more than ten times higher than families with only income from work); The families of pensioners in the richest fifths are also severely affected, with a loss of real income equal to 7,5%.
Tools to support families
During 2022, measures for reconciling family life and work were introduced, accompanied by changes to those already existing. Which according to INPS are working. Starting from decontribution which lightens the cost of labor with different percentages and audiences: employees, young people under 36, women, the South. The Institute notes that the tax relief for young people has contributed to increasing employment and also raising a the wages a little. While the decontribution in the South has not had this effect and whose participation is not total but at 65%.
The percentages of requests for the compulsory paternity leave (64% in 2022) and dei parental leave (25% for children between 0 and 3 years). The daycare bonus it reached 425 thousand beneficiaries in 2022. The Freedom Income for the autonomy and emancipation of women victims of violence went to 2021 women between 2022 and 2.668. The psychologist bonus recorded a boom in applications accepted (387 thousand), but only 41.500 funded. And then there is thesingle allowance for children, reaching 95% of those entitled to it, one of the measures with the highest take up ever recorded in Italian welfare. From March 2022 to February 2023 alone, 16 billion were disbursed to 5,7 million families.
Citizenship Income
The appeal to the Basic income, repealed by the 2023 budget law, has experienced a significant slowdown. The number of recipients of the measure had reached its maximum value in July 2021, with approximately 1,4 million families benefiting. Subsequently, a decreasing trend began: in December 2022 the recipient households were around 1,2 million, just over one million in July 2023. The reduction in the number of recipients was accompanied by a change in the characteristics of the households in terms of increase of the value of the ISEE.
As we know, the Rdc has been replaced by two new measures: theInclusion check (AdI) which starts from 1 January 2024 in favor of the nuclei, and the Support for Training and Work entered into force on 1 September.
