- OECD. Area unemployment drops to 5.2%, Italy remains at 10.2%
- Di Maio accelerates on the minimum wage, the OECD brakes: "It is no solution, 9 euros is a very high figure"
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12 July 2019 "In the last two years the progress of reforms has been significant", but Italy's GDP "is recovering slowly" and "unemployment remains high, especially among young people". This is the photograph that emerges from the chapter dedicated to our country of the "Going for Growth 2019" report prepared by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The acceleration of economic activity, the report reads, "has increased employment, but most jobs are temporary. Labor force participation has flowed towards the OECD average but this is slowing the decline in unemployment ".According to the OECD, "income inequalities and poverty rates have risen sharply during the recession and remain high. The increase in poverty", the study points out, "particularly affects families with children, and in some regions the rates of material deprivation (the indicators of family discomfort, ed) are very high. Greenhouse gas emissions are lower than the OECD average, but the population's exposure to air pollution is high ". The OECD recognizes the effort made by the country to carry out the reforms. "In the last two years - write the technicians of the Parisian institution - progress has been significant", however "the poor quality of the infrastructures, the excessive normative weight and the fiscal inefficiencies and the public administration disadvantage the investment climate".
On growth he underlines: "The uncertainty of the global economy should push governments to implement reforms that strengthen sustainable growth, increase income and opportunities for all".
Here is a summary of the recommendations that the OECD makes to Italy on taxation, public administration, training and apprenticeship, public investments and infrastructures and employment services.
Improving tax equity and efficiency
In Italy the tax system "is too complicated, weakens the incentives to work and favors irregularities and tax evasion" and the tax wedge on labor "is high". For this reason, the OECD recommends "improving the efficiency and equity of the tax structure". More in detail, the OECD reports that in Italy in 2017 the additional tax revenues related to the fight against tax evasion were more than one billion euros compared to 2016 and 7 billion euros compared to 2013. In addition, the electronic billing system for commercial transactions "are ready and will come into force in 2019". And again: in 2018, the government introduced various incentives to encourage hiring, especially of young workers in the southern regions, which will come into force in 2019. The process of updating cadastral values "is still valid and in progress".
Regarding the recommendations, the OECD calls for "combating tax evasion through greater investments in IT systems and better management of human resources in tax collection agencies, as well as by reducing the threshold for cash payments". As regards recruitment incentives, the OECD recommends "a permanent cut in social contributions for the first 3 years to all new permanent contracts". As regards the improvement of the efficiency and fairness of the tax structure, the OECD calls for "speeding up the updating of cadastral values and the" restoration of taxation on primary residence with exemptions for low household incomes ".
Increase efficiency of the Public Administration
The inefficiency of public administration and the excessive weight of regulatory regulation "damage business, well-being and equity". This requires "improving the efficiency of public administration and strengthening the rule of law". More in detail, the OECD reports that "the extensive public administration reform has been implemented while the rationalization of local utilities is still underway". The Paris institute still calls for "reforming the bankruptcy legislation following the principles established in the 2017 law" and "continuing to extend the use of digital tools in public administration".
Strengthen education and training apprenticeship
Many young people are lacking both in education and in vocational training and many workers do not have the skills required by employers. Furthermore, the lifelong learning system is fragmented and underdeveloped. For this reason, the OECD calls for "strengthening apprenticeships, vocational education, training courses and lifelong learning". It recommends "increasing the educational content of apprenticeships and establishing and applying quality standards". Another suggestion is to "increase, as expected, post-secondary vocational education and training with the involvement of companies based on the example of Higher Technical Institutes" and to "guarantee the completion of new professional university degrees rather than coincide with ITS ".
Promote public investment and improve infrastructure
Public investments in Italy "remain low", infrastructure management "is opaque" and projects are often of poor quality and hold back growth and well-being. For this it is necessary "to promote public investments of superior quality and infrastructure management". More in detail, according to the OECD the anti-corruption agency (Anac) "has gradually started the necessary updating of the regulations of the new public procurement code and offers local authorities ample support in public tenders". The OECD recommends "supporting Anac in its activities related to the implementation of the new public procurement code and to ensure that the agency has the resources and capacity to carry out its wide-ranging tasks".