Masses of young Italians under 35 are emigrating abroad as the labour market remains in crisis with a high unemployment rate and disappointing retirement prospects.
Istat (National Statistical Institute) data in November 2022 show an employment rate of 60.3%, unemployment at 7.8% and an inactivity rate of 34.5%. In this context, young people from 18 to 35 years of age represent a particularly disadvantaged category in terms of income level, hours worked and retirement prospects.
According to the research report ‘New Professions and New Marginalities’ by Eures (Economic and Social Research) and Consiglio Nazionale Giovani (National Youth Council – Cng), the youngest segment of the population has precarious work contracts, insufficient wage levels compared to the cost of living, and a lower employment rate than more mature workers and their European peers.
“Italy is a country where young people count for too little, where 64.5% of the population think there are too many older people in positions of power: this is an opinion held by eight out of ten young people, even though it is actually confirmed across the different age groups”, Cng President Maria Cristina Pisani told EURACTIV Italy.
According to Eurostat data, in 2021, the employment rate of young people aged between 15 and 24 in Italy was 17.5% compared to the European average of 32.7%. Italy is in third-last place in Europe, ahead of Bulgaria and Greece.
Inps (National Social Security Institute) data for the last five years show that, on average, a worker under 35 gets slightly more than half the pay of an adult colleague, while atypical and precarious employment contracts are widespread in all age groups.
The minimum pension in Italy is just under €600, and young people will have to work until at least 70 to get a pension, a big difference compared to other European countries such as France.
The lack of active policies to close the gap between Italy and other European countries results in a significant emigration rate, particularly of young people abroad. In 2020, almost 65,000 young people between 18 and 39 emigrated to other countries.
“This is the effect, on the one hand, of the affirmation of an international and global dimension, favoured by digital life, but on the other, it is the outcome of a society that rejects young people and of a labour market that offers them few employment opportunities, often underpaid”, Pisani commented.
(Federica Pascale | EURACTIV.it)
Source: euractiv.com
