Labour market - Q3 2023

The labour input, as measured by hours worked, increased by 0.4% compared to the previous quarter and increased by 1.8% compared to the third quarter of 2022. In the same period GDP increased by 0.1% both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.

In the third quarter 2023, the number of employed people increased by 65 thousand units (+0.3% compared to the second quarter of 2023), due to the growth of permanent employees (+75 thousand, +0.5%) and self-employed (+10 thousand, +0.2%), which more than offset the decline in temporary employees (-19 thousand, -0,6% in three months);  the number of unemployed is essentially stable (+2 thousand, +0.1% in three months) and the decline in the number of inactive people aged 15-64 continues (-84 thousand, -0.7%). The rates show a similar trend: the employment rate rises to 61.5% (+0.2 percentage points), the unemployment rate is stable to 7.6%, and the inactivity rate for people aged 15-64 falls to 33.3% (-0.2 percentage points). In the provisional data for the month of October 2023, compared to the previous month, the growth of the employed people (+27 thousand, +0.1%) and, above all, of the unemployed people (+45 thousand, +2.3%) is associated with increase in the employment rate (+0.1 points compared to the previous month) and in the unemployment rate (+0.1 points); inactive people aged 15-64 are decreasing (-69 thousand, -0.6%), as is the inactivity rate (-0.2 points).

In the third quarter 2023, employment also increases compared to the third quarter of 2022 (+481 thousand, +2.1% in one year), involving permanent employees (+3.1%) and self-employed (+1.6%), while the number of temporary employees decreases (-2.3%); the number of unemployed people continues to decrease (-80 thousand in one year, -4.1%) as well as the number of inactive individuals aged 15-64 (-442 thousand, -3.4%). This trend is reflected in the growth of the employment rate (+1.3 percentage points compared to the third quarter of 2022) and the decrease in the unemployment and inactivity rates (-0.4 and -1.1 percentage points, respectively).

On the enterprise side, the growing dynamic of total employee jobs continues, but with a slight decrease both on a quarterly and annual basis. Compared to the previous quarter, the total employee jobs recorded an increase of 0.6% as a result of an higher growth in the full-time component (+0.7%) than in the part-time (+0.3%). Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, the growth of total employee remains more marked, equal to 2.7%, higher in the full-time component (+3.1%) than in the part-time (+1.6%). The hours worked per employee show a increase on both a quarterly basis (+0.5%) and annual basis (0,9%). The use of short-time working allowances falls to 6.1 hours per 1,000 hours worked (-0.6 hours per 1,000 hours worked with respect to the third quarter 2022). The job vacancy rate remains unchanced  from both to the previous quarter and to the same quarter of the previous year. The total labour cost rises to 0.7% compared to the previous quarter, resulting from an increase of 1% for wage component and zero variation for social security contributions. On annual basis, total labour cost records a sustained growth equal to 3.3% with an increase of the same intensity in the wage component and slightly lower in that of social contributions (+3.1%). This growth is to be partly attributed to some contractual wage increases defined by national collective agreements,  affecting particularly the industrial sector.