Labour market - Q4 2024

The labour input, as measured by hours worked, increases compared both to the previous quarter (+0.2%) and to the fourth quarter of 2023 (+0.5%). In the same period GDP increased by 0.1 quarter-on-quarter and by 0.6% year-on-year.

Compared to the third quarter of 2024, the number of employed people remains broadly stable due to the increase of permanent employees (+118 thousand units, +0.7%), which offsets the decrease of fixed-term employees (-86 thousand, -3.1%) and self-employed (-36 thousand, -0.7%). The number of unemployed decreases (-36 thousand, -2.3%) while inactive people aged 15-64 rise (+46 thousand, +0.4%). The trend is similar for rates: the employment rate remains stable at 62.4%, the unemployment rate declines to 6.1% (-0.1 points) and the inactivity rate for people aged 15-64 increases to 33.5% (+0.1 points). In the provisional data for the month of January 2025, compared to the previous month, the growth in the number of employed persons (+145 thousand, +0.6 %) and in the related rate (+0.4 points) pair off the decrease in unemployment and inactivity 15-64 years rates (-0.1 and -0.4 points, respectively).

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, the growth in the number of employed slows down (+170 thousand, +0.7%), also in this case involving permanent employees (+3.1%) as opposed to the decrease in fixed-term employees (-10.0%) and self-employed (-0.4%). The decline in the number of unemployed continues (-397 thousand in one year, -20.5%), as does the increase in the number of inactive persons aged 15-64 (+387 thousand, +3.2%). This trend is reflected in the rise in the employment rate (+0.2 points in one year), the fall in the unemployment rate (-1.5 points) and the rise in the inactivity rate (+0.9 points).

On the enterprise side, on a quarterly basis, total employee jobs grow slightly, by 0.4% in total and in both its components, full-time and part-time. On an annual basis, employee jobs increase by 1.9% in total, equal to 2% in the part-time component and 1.8% in the full-time.

The hours worked per employee show an increase on a quarterly basis (+0.4%) while decreasing on annual basis (-1.0%). The use of short-time working allowances increases to 9.5 hours per 1,000 hours worked (+1.8 hours per 1,000 hours worked with respect to the fourth quarter 2023). The job vacancy rate increases compared to previous quarter (+0.1 percentage points) and decreases with respect to the same quarter of the previous year (-0.2 percentage points).

On a quarterly basis, total labour cost increases as wages by 0.2%; for social contributions the growth is equal to 0.1%. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, the increase of labour cost is more signficant, equal to 3.2%, due to a relevant increase in both wages (+3.1%) and in social contributions (+3.5%).

In the average of 2024, the growth in the number of employed (+352 thousand, +1.5%) is associated with a reduction in the number of unemployed (-283 thousand, -14.6%) and an increase in the number of inactive people aged 15-64 (+56 thousand, +0.5%). The employment rate of the 15-64 age group rises to 62.2% (+0.7 percentage points in one year), the unemployment rate falls to 6.5% (-1.1 percentage points) and the inactivity rate reaches 33,4% (+0.1 points).This evidence is also confirmed by the dynamics of labour input variables: the growth of jobs (+2.3%) and of total hours worked (+2.8%), as well as the decrease in the use of short-time working allowance hours (-0.4 each 1,000 hours worked).Total labour cost increases signficantly (+3.4%) mainly due to some National Contracts’ renewals.