ROME. The numbers signal the recovery, but the Italy of work has not yet climbed the slope of pre-Covid levels. In the second quarter of 2021, Istat reported an increase of 338 thousand employees (+ 1.5%) compared to the previous quarter and a growth of 523 thousand units over the same period of 2020. But this breath of fresh air in the employment data is linked above all to the growth of temporary employees (+ 226 thousand, + 8.3%) against an increase of 80 thousand permanent employees (+ 0.5%) and 33 thousand self-employed workers (+ 0.7%).
*** The map of deaths at work in 2021
Employment remains, above all, still lower than pre-pandemic levels, with 678 thousand fewer employees compared to the second quarter of 2019. In particular, the work haemorrhage affects women more than any other category, who are 370 thousand fewer employed (- 3.7% compared to -2.3% of men) with the female employment rate, at 49.3%, still 1.4 points lower (-1 point, to 67.1%, for men) . The unemployment rate between the ages of 15 and 74 dropped to 9.8%: 2,459,000 unemployed in Italy, down by 2.2% on the previous quarter and by 27% on the same period of 2020. It is considered without I also work those who have been on layoffs for over three months.
Compared to the previous quarter, the hours worked per employee according to Istat grew by 3.4%, with the layoffs lowering to 78.7 hours for every thousand hours worked. The vacancy rate increases by 0.6 points on a cyclical basis and by 1 on an annual basis. The cost of labor, per unit of work, grew by 0.6% in the economy, with a more sustained increase in wages (+ 0.7%). On an annual basis, there was a 3.1% drop in labor costs (wages -2.3%). Labor input, measured by hours worked, recorded an increase of 3.9% compared to the previous quarter and 20.8% compared to the second quarter of 2020.