PRESS RELEASE
Advance notice – Inapp Plus survey will be presented on March 7 at the Institute’s headquarters
EDUCATION, INAPP: “4 MILLION ITALIANS DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL WITHOUT OBTAINING A DIPLOMA, ANOTHER 5 MILLION WITHOUT FINISHING UNIVERSITY.”
FADDA: “This data should provide food for thought as it shows, on the one hand, the inability of the education system to retain students until the completion of their studies, and on the other, the weaknesses and uncertainties of those who decide to abandon their education. Both phenomena require specific interventions because they harm the development of “human capital” that is necessary to increase the level of qualification of our workforce and also the level of inclusion and social cohesion.”
Rome, Feb. 24, 2023 – As many as 11.7 million Italians have never enrolled in upper secondary school; nearly 4 million have interrupted their education before acquiring a high school diploma. There are more men (62 percent) than women (38 percent). Furthermore, there are 5 million high school graduates who have enrolled in a university course without completing it, despite investing time and resources. This is one of the topics covered in the Plus 2022 Report, which will be presented on March 7 at the Institute’s Auditorium and contains the results of a survey conducted on a sample of 45000 individuals aged 18 to 74.
“Even today, 41 percent of the population aged 18 to 74 has at most a middle school degree (17.7 million people)”, Inapp researchers write, “high school graduates are the majority: 42 percent, or 17.9 million people. The portion of the population with higher educational qualifications consists of 6.1 million college graduates (14 percent) and 1.3 million people with master’s and PhD degrees (3 percent), and women continue to have higher levels of education.”
This data draws a stark picture of our education and vocational training system, “explained Prof. Sebastiano Fadda, president of Inapp, “which needs to be improved to ensure better adherence to education and training paths needed to match evolving societal needs. Furthermore, there is a need to provide adequate guidance and support to help people overcome family and economic background barriers. Career orientation services, investment in schools, and support for the most fragile are necessary measures to ensure that new generations are integrated and well adapted to the times, both as citizens and workers.”
The survey also shows that people over 50 are employed 3 times more than those under 30. Access to the world of work for young people still appears too cumbersome-between discontinuous and precarious employment-and largely informal, contributing to slow transitions to stable employment. Under the age of 30, only 1 in 5 young people have been employed, albeit 50 percent of respondents are still engaged in their education. For every 100 people with a high school degree, 77 have a diploma (1/3 have a technical diploma and another 1/3 a high school one) and 23 have a bachelor’s degree (and of these 4 also have a master’s degree or PhD). Fifty percent of those with a high school diploma have earned a bachelor’s degree.
The Plus Report also analyses participation in training activities, which involves about 19 percent of the total number of people aged 18 to 74. In contrast to the rest of Europe, the uptake of training activities is higher among those who have a professional occupation instead of those who are unemployed. Fewer than 12 out of 100 job seekers have taken one or more training courses and only 4.5 percent of inactive individuals. Participation in training courses is twice higher among men than women. The lowest levels are recorded among over-50s while the highest among university graduates (10 percent). Nearly 60 percent of training activities are conducted at a distance. In contrast, employed individuals participate in higher numbers (17 percent) with similar presence of men and women. Older individuals with higher education levels tend to participate in higher numbers (45 percent of university graduates have done at least one training activity). Employee training rate also increases with the size of the firm and is particularly high for the service sector (38 percent). The predominant mode remains distance-learning for about 70 percent of the courses; 13 percent, on the other hand, takes place in a classroom.
“The data shows how training is not adequately exploited to match labour supply and demand and meet the changing needs of the production system. Furthermore, from a personal point of view, training as a way to progress in one’s career and develop new skills is not properly leveraged. The labour market is changing profoundly, as highlighted in the Recovery and Resilience Plan and is not oriented towards digital transformation and the green economy. Without adequate training, there is a risk that inequalities will continue to rise and widen the gap between those who have the tools to develop new skills and those who will be phased out of the workforce.”
For more information:
Giancarlo Salemi – INAPP President Spokesperson (347 6312823)