The INPS observatory on precariousness delivers the usual analysis on the labor market. With the decrease in the tax relief provided for by the Jobs Act, permanent contracts have decreased. Based on the data provided by the Institute led by Tito Boeri, in 2016 the balance between openings and closures was positive for just over 80 thousand units compared to the 930 thousand recorded in 2015.
Overall, however, the number of active contracts remains on the increase. As regards the private sector, at the end of 2016, there were 340 more contracts than the previous year.
INPS also makes a definitive sum of the effects of the Jobs Act: if the two years are added together (2015 and 2016), the growth in contracts exceeds one million units. However, as regards last year, INPS underlines that ""the 2016 result is mainly attributable to the net growth trend recorded by fixed-term contracts, whose annualized balance, equal to +222.000, significantly recovered the contraction recorded in 2015 (-253.000), induced by the high number of transformations into permanent contracts".
As regards the recruitment chapter, in 2016 their number was equal to 5.804.000, with a reduction of 464.000 units compared to the corresponding period of 2015 (-7,4%). Stable hirings slowed down above all (-37,6% on 2015), while the opening of fixed-term contracts showed an 8% growth.
Layoffs fell by 3,1%, while good news arrives on the voucher front. The data this time relate to January 2017, when the number of sales of job vouchers amounted to 8,9 million, a level similar to that recorded in January 2015 (9,5 million). "The sharp decline in growth - explains INPS - increasingly marked starting from October 2016, may also reflect the effects of the legislative decree with which preventive communication obligations were introduced regarding the working hours".
