Low wages, lack of growth, job market in disarray. Italy is not recovering from its historical illnesses, on the contrary, the situation has worsened in recent years. This is certified by Istat, which today released its annual report on "Prospects for the Italian economy in 2012-2013".
For 2012 the Institute provides a reduction in GDP of 1,5%, while recovery should arrive next year (+0,5%) thanks to the strengthening of global demand and business investment. These data are in stark contrast to those provided just today by the OECD on our country but are in line with the most reliable forecasts of the International Monetary Fund, the ECB and the Bank of Italy. As for the unemployment, according to Istat will continue to increase: this year the rate will reach 9,5%, before rising to 9,6% in 2013.
GDP +2000% SINCE 0,4. ITALY LATEST IN THE EU FOR GROWTH
From 2000 to today, Italy's economic performance has been the worst in Europe, with an average annual growth of only 0,4%. "With one percentage point less per year - writes Istat - our country ranks last among the 27 member states of the EU, with a substantial gap compared to both the countries of the Eurozone and those of the Union as a whole".
Furthermore, the underground economy “is a significant phenomenon which negatively affects the competitive positioning of the country system. The entity of the added value produced by the underground economy is estimated for 2008 in a range between 255 and 275 billion euros, or between 16,3% and 17,5% of GDP. However, the effect of the crisis has probably widened the area of the underground economy”.
WAGES AT THE POST, SAVINGS REDUCED, POVERTY INCREASING
Real wages have remained stagnant in the last twenty years, with Italians' ability to save progressively declining. “Between 1993 and 2011 – reads the report – contractual wages show, in real terms, no variation. In the last two decades, household consumption expenditure has grown at a faster rate than their disposable income, resulting in a progressive reduction in their saving capacity”. Overall, "since 2008 household disposable income has increased by 2,1% in current values, but purchasing power (ie income in real terms) has fallen by around 5%".
As for relative poverty, “in the last 15 years it has recorded substantial stability. The percentage of households that are below the minimum consumer spending threshold has remained around 10-11%”. The territorial gap "remains wide: in the North the incidence of poverty is 4,9%, rising to 23% in the South". Furthermore, "the condition of the most numerous families is worsening: in 2010, 29,9% of those with five or more members were in relative poverty (up 7 percentage points compared to 1997)".
WORK: BUT SO MANY TEMPORARY PEOPLE, IN TWENTY YEARS +48,4%
“From 1993 to 2011, fixed-term employees grew by 48,4% (+751 units) against +13,8% for total employee employment – continues the report -. In 2011, the incidence of temporary work on total subordinate work was 13,4%, the highest value since 1993, and exceeded 35% (almost double the figure in 1993) among 18-29 year olds”.
The weight of atypical workers (fixed-term employees, collaborators or occasional workers) on the total number of employed persons is progressively increasing: 44,6% of those born from the 29,7s onwards started with an atypical job. And ten years after the first atypical job - adds the statistical institute - almost a third of employed people are still precarious and one in ten is out of work. The transition to standard jobs is easier for those belonging to the highest social class, while those who started out as a worker in an atypical job, after ten years, are still precarious in 11,6% of cases and in XNUMX% have lost my job.
YOUNG PEOPLE, 4 OUT OF 10 STAY IN THE FAMILY
Four out of 10 young people between the ages of 25 and 34 still live in their family of origin: the quota is 41,9%, against 33,2% in the years 1993-94. The phenomenon for males concerns 49,6%, while for females the share is 34%. 45% say they stay in the family because they don't have a job or can't support themselves. And in twenty years – adds the institute of statistics – the share of young people who leave the family to get married has halved.
Young people who do not work and do not study ("Neet") have exceeded two million and the "share is highest in the South, 31,9%, a value almost double that of the Centre-North, with peaks in Sicily ( 35,7%) and in Campania (35,2%), followed by Calabria (31,8%) and Puglia (29,2%)".
WOMEN, EQUALITY BETWEEN THE SEX IN ONLY ONE COUPLE OUT OF 20
Only in one couple out of twenty are family work and income contributions equally distributed among the partners. In one out of three couples (30%) the woman does not work and takes care of the family alone, often without having access to a current account (47,1%) and without sharing important decisions with her partner (20%). In one out of four couples, the woman earns less than her partner, but she works much more for the family. Istat reveals that Italy is at the bottom of the European ranking for the contribution of women to the couple's income: 33,7% of women between the ages of 25 and 54 receive no income (compared to 19,8% of the EU average ).
