Unemployment is rising again, but for once it’s good news. In fact, people looking for work are growing, while inactive people are decreasing. A phenomenon that lends itself to a double reading: on the one hand the feeling is spreading in the country that finding a job is easier and in any case possible, on the other hand there are – probably – situations of undeclared work emerging that are contractualised.
In October, therefore, the unemployment rate rose by 0.2 points to 9.4% compared to September, but is still down from 10% a year ago. From the Istat survey, therefore, it emerges that the data is linked to the decline in inactive people: they are 79 thousand fewer than in September and 425 thousand fewer than October 2020. There are 51 thousand people looking for work on the rise: consequently there are 2 unemployed , 37 million.
Overall, the employed in October were 22 million 985 thousand with an increase of 35 thousand units on September and of 390 thousand units on October 2020, however there are still almost 200 thousand workers to recover the pre-pandemic levels of February 2020. the growth trend that seems to concern – on the employment front – only men: on a monthly basis, in fact, only men grew (+ 36 thousand), while compared to last year compared to 271 thousand more employed, only 118 thousand were employed , less than half. The employment rate is 58.6%.
On the other hand, the decline in self-employed workers continues: in October there were 4 million 920 thousand with a decrease of 9 thousand units on September and of 132 thousand units on October 2020. In January 2020, before the pandemic, the self-employed were 5 million 267 thousand, therefore over 270 thousand more in October 2021, while before the 2008 economic crisis, in October 2007, there were one million more (5.9 million).