Lights and shadows in the world of Italian work. On the one hand, the data collected by the Ministry of Labor and the trade unions, which reveal the very high rate of irregularities in the hiring and contractualisations of our companies. On the other hand, the numbers recorded by Unioncamere, which mark an improving trend in terms of the number of hires.
Report Uil/Ministry of Labour
65,5% of the companies inspected since Ministry of Labour in the first nine months of 2016 they recorded irregularities in contracts and work methods. This is stated by a study by the confederal union UIL, which analyzes the results of the inspections conducted by the Ministry of Labour, INPS and INAIL, according to which 16 billion in contributions and bonuses for undeclared work would have been processed in ten years, equivalent to a loss of income of 1,5 billion a year and equal to a medium-sized financial company.
Every year, on average, inspections have found the presence of 250 irregular workers, mostly undeclared workers, who represent 43% of irregular workers. According to the confederal secretary Guglielmo Loy, it is a "pathological condition that characterizes our country" and which goes hand in hand with the Istat report, published a few days ago, which quantified the weight of the economy at 211 billion euros submerged in Italy.
According to the report, a system is being "professionalised, which unfortunately too many employers have access to, in circumventing, through apparently legal forms, the provisions, both regulatory and contractual". For example fake part-timers, the co.co.co with a strong smell of employment services, cooperatives that manage global services with working conditions with protections outside the contractual standards and the substitution of vouchers for subordinate relationships.
“The high rate of irregularities found among the companies inspected – observes the Ministry of Labour Giuliano Poletti – confirms the continuous improvement of the delicate planning phase of the inspection action, oriented in a 'qualitative' sense, as it is aimed at previously and carefully selected objectives and characterized by pathological phenomena particularly relevant for inspection purposes”.
The ministry's checks led to measures of suspension of activity against 5.483 companies due to the use of undeclared personnel equal to or greater than 20% of that present at the time of the inspection visit. In the current year phenomena of irregular outsourcing of production processes have been ascertained for 8.962 workers with a considerable increase, equal to +86%, compared to the data recorded in the period from 1 January to 30 September of the previous year”.
As mentioned, among the irregularities found also stand out "the requalification of numerous fictitious employment relationships in fact consisting of real employment relationships (5.601), a figure also up (+ 4%) compared to that found in the first three quarters of 2015”.
“Furthermore – reads the report -, numerous violations have been contested in the field of: protection of working mothers and equal opportunities for men and women (598), a figure down compared to that recorded as at 30 September 2015 (789); working hours (9.478), with a substantial increase (about +45%) compared to the first three quarters of 2015; occupational health and safety (19.990 offenses of a preventive nature, a figure substantially in line with the irregularities recorded as at 30 September of the previous year)”.
Unioncamere
Some good news on the job front, however, comes from Unioncamere, according to which 20% of companies with employees have or will hire, with a recovery of more than 6 points compared to the historical low of 2013. For companies that export and implement innovations, the propensity to hire is well above the average (respectively , 36% and 34%). To say it is the Excelsior information system, created by Unioncamere in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor on the recruitments relating to 2016.
Hiring this year is mainly concentrated in the tertiary, due to the higher turnover typical of this sector. It is above all the sectors of tourism-catering, commerce and personal services that expect the greatest number: about 50% of the total. In industry, the hiring of manufacturing prevails over those required in construction.
Particularly dynamic are advanced business support services and media and communication services, which show a decisive growth in hiring expected this year compared to last year's forecasts (+22 and +19%), followed by operational support to companies and individuals and from financial and insurance services.
The average finding difficulty indicated by companies is 12%: just over one figure out of 10 among those indicated in the course of the survey will be difficult to find. But this percentage is higher in the north of the country (14%), in companies with at least 250 employees (15%) and for high skill professions, i.e. managerial, specialist and technical ones (22%). Among the productive sectors, it is those of engineering, electronics and information technology that report the greatest difficulties (about one figure out of 4).
Alternate traineeships have also begun in the last year school-workintended for high school students. In 2015, almost one out of 10 companies made themselves available to host these young people and for 2016 it is expected that the number of companies willing to welcome students on alternating courses could increase by 10%, as well as the students involved.
