Employment and unemployment (provisional estimates)

In May 2020, in comparison with the previous month, the decrease in employment continued – at a slower pace – and unemployment returned to grow, against a marked drop of inactivity.

On a monthly basis, the decline of employment (-0.4%, -84 thousand) concerned more women ( 0.7%, 65 thousand) than men (-0.1%, -19 thousand), and brought the employment rate to 57.6% (-0.2 p.p.).

In the last month, also unemployed people grew (+18.9%, +307 thousand) more among women (+31.3%, +227 thousand) than men (+8.8%, +80 thousand). The unemployment rate rose to 7.8% (+1.2 percentage points) and the youth rate increased to 23.5% (+2.0 p.p.).

In May the decline of inactive people aged 15-64 (-1.6%, -229 thousand) was registered for both men ( 1.3%, -71 thousand) and women (-1.7%, -158 thousand), leading the inactivity rate to 37.3% (-0.6 percentage points).

With respect to the previous quarter, in the period March – May 2020, employment considerably decreased (-1.6%, 381 thousand) for both genders.

In the last three months, also the number of unemployed persons decreased (-22.3%, -533 thousand), while a growth among inactive people aged 15-64 years was registered (+6.6%, +880 thousand).

Compared to May 2019, employment showed a decrease in terms of figures (-2.6%, -613 thousand) and rate (-1.5 percentage points).

On a yearly basis, the decrease of employed people was accompanied by a fall of unemployed persons (-25.7%, -669 thousand) and a growth of inactive people aged 15-64 (+8.7%, +1 million 140 thousand).

The survey process encountered some difficulties caused by the current health emergency, in particular in the data collection phase. Data treatment strategies have contrasted negative statistical effects and allowed for May 2020 data dissemination (see the Methodological note, page 11).