Labour market

Istat issues a quarterly release on labour market, integrating information previously presented in the quarterly press releases “Employment and unemployment” and “Labour indicators in enterprises”. Moreover, starting from this release, data on labour supply will include estimates on year-on-year individual transitions from/to employment and non-employment. The methodological note reports the confidence intervals of the main seasonally unadjusted indicators on labour supply.

In the third quarter of 2015, the Gdp quarter-on-quarter growth, initiated at the beginning of 2015 continued, although at a slower pace (+0.2%). However the quarter was marked by a further increase in the year-on-year growth rate which reached +0.8% from +0.1% in the first quarter and +0.6% in the second one.

This result was accompanied by a continuing, slow improvement of all labour market indicators, which showed quarter-on-quarter increases both for labour input and employment, and a drop in unemployment.

The seasonally adjusted recovery of employment seemed to stand still in the last months. The slight growth recorded during August-October term (+0.1%, 32 thousand units) was actually the result of the large increase registered in August and the subsequent similarly marked declines of September and October (-0.2%).

As for year-on-year changes, employment increased by 247 thousand units, and geographical gaps shrank for the second consecutive quarter; over half of employment growth was indeed in the South and Islands area (+136 thousands). A high educational level was confirmed as an advantage in the labour market. The year-on-year decrease in unemployment mainly involved people with previous working experiences, especially in the South and Islands area, and people seeking first employment, mainly women and young people.

Flow data show that young people still accounted for more than half of the new entrants into employment after twelve months, and the trend is still growing. Discouraged people decreased, as they more frequently entered employment. Permanence in employment of temporary employees increased both for persons continuing with fix-term contracts and for those who shift to permanent contracts.

As for sectors, in the third quarter, the quarter-on-quarter growth was particularly significant for wage employment in the private services more reliant on domestic demand. For the economy as a whole, employment growth affected only temporary employees, Central and Southern regions and mainly young people aged 15-34. The year-on-year growth of permanent employment involved men and the over-50.

In enterprises, the year-on-year growth of labour input showed up both in the number of jobs and hours worked, also as a result of the robust reduction in the use of the short-time working allowance. Growth was concentrated in services. Temporary employment agency jobs were still increasing, as well as job vacancy rate, although at a slower pace, both on a quarterly and annual basis. Year-on-year gross wages growth was higher than inflation and purchasing power kept increasing.

Next release: 10 March 2015