In the second quarter there was an "improvement in labor market trends" with an increase in both "the input of labor employed and employment and, to a modest extent, productivity also returned to growth in the first part of the year ”. This was communicated this morning by INPS, specifying that the increase also affects the South with "particular intensity", where the number of employed people has grown "by 120 thousand units", even if looking at the unemployment rates, the gap remains, indeed widens with the North.
Also in the second quarter, moreover, employed persons in the euro area increased by 0,3% and in the EU by 0,2% compared to the first three months (+0,2% and +0,3% respectively). Compared to the same period last year, employment increased by 0,8% in the euro area and by 0,9% in the EU. This was revealed by Eurostat, according to which the employed in the second quarter were 228,8 million in the EU, of which 151 million in the euro area. In Italy, employment increased by 0,2% compared to the first quarter and by 0,3% compared to a year earlier.
Istat then certifies that, at a national level, wages are rising more than inflation: “The trend increase in wages was in fact largely higher than inflation; the recovery of the purchasing power of pre-tax wages therefore continues”, reads the press release.
In the second quarter, the moderate recovery in economic activity continued, with a 0,3% growth in the GDP. The growth was accompanied by an improvement in labor market trends both in short-term and on an annual basis: in fact, both the input of labor employed and employment increased and, to a modest extent, in the first part of the year productivity has also returned to growth. The recovery in employment also continued in July, with an annual growth of 1,1% (+235 thousand units) and 0,3% in the May-July period, net of seasonal factors.
From a sectoral point of view, in the second quarter both the economic recovery of employment in the services sectors most closely linked to the dynamics of domestic demand and the positive signals in construction were significant. In the economy as a whole, the increase in employment mainly concerned employees, both on permanent and fixed-term contracts.
