The human capital of Italian citizens, i.e. their ability to generate income, amounts to around 342 euros on the general average. However, there is a wide gender difference: while the male per capita value is equal to 453 thousand euros, the female one is quantified at about half, 231 thousand euros. Istat writes it, which for the first time has attempted to quantify the Italian human capital.
The survey - referring to 2008 - is based on market values such as the type of job, career prospects and life expectancy. Non-market activities, which are the most difficult to quantify, are excluded, such as family production, i.e. the work carried out above all by women in the domestic sphere, or the use of free time.
Differences in pay weigh on the gap between men and women, but also the fact that there are fewer women workers than men and they remain active for fewer years. If, on the other hand, non-market activities were taken into consideration, women would be awarded a value of 431 thousand euros, slightly higher than that of men.
Another gap is found when comparing the different age groups: the per capita human capital of a young person is equal to over 556 thousand euros, against the 293 thousand euros of workers in the central group (35-54 years old) and only 46 thousand euro of workers between 55 and 64 years old. However, observes Istat, considering the high youth unemployment rate, over 40%, "there is strong uncertainty about the possibility for young people to enter production processes" and it is therefore possible that the estimate will be revised downwards of labor income expected for young people and consequently that of the value of the country's total human capital.
The calculation method used by the Statistical Institute considers the current value of income from work over the expected life cycle taking into account possible changes in salary (also due to experience), further education that can be acquired, differential models labor force participation and mortality. Then education, labor market conditions and demographic trends are taken into account.
Istat explains that the work is the result of research activities on the measurement of human capital "following the Institute's participation in the creation of an international consortium within the OECD". Italy suffers from "a significant gap in terms of human capital stock" compared to the "main OECD countries", coming last in a ranking made up of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Spain, i.e. the states that have joined the OECD Human Capital project.
