Employment and unemployment (Provisional estimates) - December 2021

As reported in detail in the methodological note, data disclosed in this press release derive from the final version of a back-recalculation (relased on a provisional basis from April 6, 2021) made to take into account the introduction of the new intercensual population as well as the changes in the definitions introduced by the new Regulation (EU) 2019/1700. Time comparisons can only be made within these reconstructed series; data disseminated today should not be compared to previous release.

In December 2021 the number of both employed and inactive people were substantially stable, while a drop was recorded for unemployed persons.

On a monthly basis, the stability of employment was the result of a rise among women and people aged under 50 and a decrease for men and over 50 years old persons. Overall, the employment rate remained unchanged at 59.0%.

In the last month, the decline of unemployed people (-1.3%, -29 thousand) concerned only women and all age groups except people aged 35-49. The unemployment rate fell to 9.0% (-0.1 p.p.), the youth rate to 26.8% (-0.7 p.p.).

In December the steadiness of inactive people aged 15-64 derived from an increase for men and people over the age of 50 and a decrease in the number for women and aged under 50 years old persons. The inactivity rate stayed stable at 35.1%.

In the period October-December 2021, with respect to the previous quarter (July-September), the employment rose (+0.3%, +70 thousand).

In the last three months, unemployed persons remained substantially unchanged whereas a drop was registered for inactive people aged 15-64 years (-1.3%, -178 thousand).

Compared with December 2020, the number of employed persons increased by 2.4% (+540 thousand), the growth concerning both genders and all age classes with the exception of people aged 35-49 years; the employment rate showed an increase of 1.9 p.p. .

On a yearly basis, the rise of employed people was accompanied by a decrease of both unemployed persons (-7.6%, -184 thousand) and inactive people aged 15-64 (-4.7%, -653 thousand).