Labour market - Q3 2024

The labour input, as measured by hours worked, increases compared both to the previous quarter (+0.2%) and to the third quarter of 2023 (+1.5%). In the same period GDP remained unchanged quarter-on-quarter and increased by 0.4% year-on-year.

The number of employed people increased by 117 thousand units (+0.5% compared to the second quarter of 2024), following the growth of permanent employees (+111 thousand, +0.7%) and self-employed (+43 thousand, +0,8%) which more than offset the fall of temporary employees (-37 thousand, -1.3%); the number of unemployed decreases (-149 thousand, -8.7% in three months) and the number of inactive people aged 15-64 increases (+88 thousand, +0.7%). The rates show a similar trend: the employment rate rises to 62.4% (+0.2 percentage points), the unemployment rate falls to 6.1% (-0.6 percentage points), and the inactivity rate for people aged 15-64 increases to 33.4% (+0.2 percentage points). In the provisional data for the month of October 2024, compared to the previous month, the increase in the number of employed people (+47 thousand, +0.2%) and in the employment rate (+0.1 percentage points) is associated with the decrease of the unemployment rate (-0.2 points) and the increase of the inactivity rate aged 15-64 (+0.1 percentage points).

In the third quarter 2024, employment also increases compared to the third quarter of 2023 (+517 thousand, +2.2% in one year), involving, also in this case, permanent employees (+3.6%) and self-employed (+2.6%) in contrast to the decrease in fixed-term employees (-5.9%); the number of unemployed continues to fall (-418 thousand in one year, -22.7%) while the number of inactive people aged 15 to 64 is rising again (+100 thousand, +0.8%). This trend is reflected in the increase of the employment rate (+1.0 percentage points over the year) and inactivity rates (+0.1 percentage points) and the decrease in the unemployment rate (-1.7 percentage points).

On the enterprise side, on a quarterly basis, the total employee jobs continue to grow, recording an increase of 0.5% in total and 0.4% in both its two components, full-time and part-time. On an annual basis, employee jobs increase by 2.2% in total and in part-time, slightly lower in full-time (+2.1%).  

The hours worked per employee show a decrease on a quarterly basis (-0.9%) and on annual basis (-1.0%). The use of short-time working allowances increases to 8.0 hours per 1,000 hours worked (2.2 hours per 1,000 hours worked with respect to the third quarter 2023). The job vacancy rate remains unchanged compared to previous quarter and decreases with respect to the same quarter of the previous year (-0.2 percentage points).

On a quarterly basis, total labour cost increases by 1.0%, as also recorded by wages and social contributions; compared to the same quarter of 2023, labour cost rises at a significant pace, equal to 4.6%, due to an increase both in wages (+4.3%) and a more marked increase in social contributions (+5.1%). The payments foreseen by the renewals of the National Contracts, already applied from the previous quarter, drive this particularly high increase in wages and social contributions, implying growth rates among the highest in the observed time series.