IT
PRESS RELEASE
INAPP 2024 Report “The Impact of Economic Choices on Work and Training” Presented at Montecitorio
Rome, 14 January 2025 – The INAPP 2024 Report explores the future of the Italian labour market and proposes a shift in perspective to address the structural challenges posed by population ageing and the growing prevalence of digital technologies.
The report highlights positive outcomes, such as employment growth, with a 3.5% increase in Italy between December 2019 and October 2024, resulting in over 1 million new jobs. This has brought the number of employed individuals to 24.1 million, with a record employment rate of 62.5%. However, a gap remains between Italy’s employment rate and that of the 20 main EU countries, with Eurostat’s 2023 data indicating an employment rate shortfall of 8.5%, equivalent to 3.156 million jobs for a comparable population. Around 70% of Italy’s employment shortfall is concentrated in sectors influenced by public spending, such as healthcare and social care (1.27 million) and public administration and education.
Further challenges persist:
- The inactivity rate remains high, with one-third of the working-age population not participating in the labour market, particularly among young people and women. In southern Italy, the female inactivity rate reaches 58.2%, exceeding the EU average by 10 percentage points.
- Companies increasingly struggle to find suitable workers, with over 47% reporting difficulties, a figure that has risen by more than 22 points since 2019. Women’s employment is further hindered by a lack of care services, which, according to INAPP’s 2023 research, account for 18% of employment exits and 40% of voluntary resignations among women. The demographic decline, which will see the working-age population decrease by about 4 million by 2040, and the spread of digital technologies in production processes exacerbate the issue.
- Labour market mismatches are fuelled by vocational training that does not align with business needs and a shrinking active population. Active labour policies are key to overcoming this misalignment. The launch of the GOL Programme has initially increased formal participation in active labour policies by job seekers by 178%, with 3.1 million people supported by 30 November 2024. Of these, approximately 1.9 million (61.3%) have started or completed an active policy or extracurricular internship. As of 30 November 2024, the mandatory reporting system indicated a positive employment outcome for 1.139 million workers, representing 36.6% of those supported, of whom 58% were hired under temporary contracts. Monitoring activities have revealed several issues, including growing difficulties in synchronising the methods and timing of support, the low effectiveness of training measures in achieving employment outcomes, and the failure to implement the conditionalities required for recipients of income support. These findings underline the need for a comprehensive reform of active labour policies.
The INAPP 2024 Report emphasises the need for an innovative approach to address labour market challenges. This paradigm shift must prioritise increasing productivity, improving workers’ skills, and ensuring optimal use of human resources in economic and labour policies. The required evolution goes beyond the management of public resources or administrative capabilities. A coordinated and integrated collaboration among educational institutions, business representatives, workers’ organisations, and the third sector is essential. Effectively utilising available financial, technological, and human resources is the fundamental path to addressing the weaknesses of the production system and enhancing equity in income redistribution.
For more information:
Presidency – tel. 0685447700
[email protected]