Employment and unemployment (provisional estimates)

From 1 January 2021, the new Labour Force survey started, which transposes Regulation (EU) 2019/1700. As reported in detail in the methodological note, the time series of the aggregates disclosed in this press release have been back-recalculated on a provisional basis, for the period January 2004 – December 2020. Time comparisons can only be made within these reconstructed series; data disseminated today should not be compared to previous release.

In February 2021 the number of employed persons was substantially stable, whereas a slight decline was recorded for both inactive and unemployed people.

On a monthly basis, the steadiness of employment concerned both genders, while a growth for under35 and a decline for 35+ years old people were recorded. Overall, the employment rate remained stable at 56.5% as well.

In the last month, the drop of unemployed people (-0.3%, -9 thousand) concerned men and under50; for women and over50 a slight increase was registered. The unemployment rate declined to 10.2% (-0.1 p.p.) and the youth rate to 31.6% (-1.2 p.p.).

In February the light decrease of inactive people aged 15-64 (-0.1%, -10 thousand) was the effect of a decline for women (-0.3%, -26 thousand) not fully balanced by the rise among men (+0.3%, +17 thousand). The inactivity rate was stable to 37.0%.

In the period December 2020-February 2021, with respect to the previous quarter (September-November 2020), employment dropped (-1.2%, -277 thousand) for both genders.

In the last three months, an increase was registered in the number of unemployed persons (+1.0%, +25 thousand) as well as for inactive people aged 15-64 years (+1.3%, +183 thousand).

Compared to February 2020, employment showed a sharp fall both in terms of figures (-4.1%, -945 thousand) and rate (-2.2 percentage points).

On a yearly basis, the drop of employed people was accompanied by a growth of unemployed persons (+0.9%, +21 thousand) and a substantial rise of inactive people aged 15-64 (+5.4%, +717 thousand).