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The necessity of work in people’s lives can be questioned by few, for quite obvious reasons. Our country is experiencing a phase with very high employment rates and positive trends. Many, however, especially after the pandemic, have changed their relationship with time, income and their interests.
Some numbers of the Report «The meaning of work in the productive and urban community of Bologna», produced by Censis with the collaboration of Philip Morris, also explain the extent of this change. For 62.7% of respondents, work is no longer central to their lives, 76.2% of young people would only exchange an hour of free time for an hour of work at a high cost, for 80% of those employed in In the past too much was asked of those who work, now it’s right to think more about yourself. The data were presented in Bologna by Giorgio De Rita, general secretary of Censis, and discussed among others by Matteo Lepore, mayor of Bologna, Matteo Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna, Marco Hannappel, president and CEO of Philip Morris Italia, Maurizio Lupi , president of the Costruiamo il Futuro Foundation, Giovanni Molari, rector of the University of Bologna, Marina Elvira Calderone, Minister of Labor and Social Policies.
The recovery of employment
We are experiencing a phase in which the numbers of employed people have reached higher levels than ever before. The collapse in employment between January and July 2020 which came close to one million workers (-937,000), was followed by a real rebound, with an increase in employment which from July 2020 to November 2023 went from just over 22 million to over 23 million 700,000, reaching the highest level ever recorded in Italy.
The increase in the age of workers
Between the third quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of 2023, employment in Italy increased by 470,000 units: all the indicators concerning the components of employment show a positive sign (employee employment and independent employment), while the only sign negative is attributable to fixed-term employment contracts: in twelve months they decreased by 89,000 units (-2.9%).
The decline of young people
Over the course of a decade (between 2012 and 2022), according to what the Censis report explains, the employment base made up of young people aged between 15 and 34 has reduced by around 360,000 units: of these over half, 188,000, in the South. At the same time, workers aged at least 50 increased by 2.7 million. THE