Istat: the Covid crisis sharpens the gaps in the world of work. Young people and women the most affected

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November 24, 2020 "The effects of the employment crisis due to the health emergency have mainly affected the most vulnerable components of the labor market (young people, women and foreigners), on less protected job positions and in the area of ​​the country that already before The emergency showed the most difficult employment conditions, the South; in other words, the pandemic seems to have had the effect of exacerbating the pre-existing gaps in participation in the labor market ". This was underlined by the president of Istat, Gian Carlo Blangiardo, during a hearing on the maneuver at the budget committees of the Chamber and Senate.

Over half of the decline in employment linked to the Covid crisis concerned professions in services and commerce (-10.2% compared to the same period of 2019);

unskilled jobs also fell sharply (-5.7%), while clerical and skilled professions and, above all, blue-collar professions recorded lower than average decreases, Blangiardo said.

Among the most affected professional figures stand out waiters, bartenders, cooks, shop assistants and retailers, domestic collaborators and carers;

among the few growing professions, on the other hand, programmers or electronics technicians and delivery personnel are reported. 

The crisis affected the South and young people more, "but this time it was mainly women - mostly employed in services (the sector most affected with 809 thousand fewer employees compared to the second quarter of 2019) and in precarious jobs - to suffer the greatest effects: in the second quarter of 2020 there are 470 thousand less employed than in the same quarter of the previous year (323 thousand fewer among those with fixed-term contracts) and the female employment rate 15-64 years old stands at 48.4%, against 66.6% of the male one, placing us in the penultimate place of the European ranking, just above Greece ", underlined the president of Istat, Gian Carlo Blangiardo.

"The data on female employment in Italy remain worrying despite the fact that the level of education for women is significantly higher than that of men", he added.

Among the young people under 36 there are approximately 2 million 375 thousand who could potentially enter the labor market, thus representing part of the audience affected by the incentive for recruitment provided for in the budget law.

This is the estimate provided by the president of Istat, Gian Carlo Blangiardo, during the hearing on the maneuver.

They are, he explained, both unemployed (893 thousand), that is, individuals who have carried out research actions and are immediately available to work, and potential labor forces (1 million 482 thousand) which include those who, despite not having carried out search actions, are immediately available to work (1 million 416 thousand) and those who have sought work but are not immediately available.

"The current health and economic crisis could negatively affect, as well as the number of deaths, even the same annual frequency of births".

This is the alarm launched by Istat.

"It is, in fact, legitimate to assume - explained the president of Istat, Gian Carlo Blangiardo, during the hearing on the maneuver before the budget committees of the House and Senate - that the climate of fear and uncertainty and the growing difficulties of material nature (linked to employment and income) generated by recent events will negatively influence the fertility choices of Italian couples. The 420,000 births registered in Italy in 2019, which already represent a minimum never reached in over 150 years of National Unity, could fall , according to an Istat scenario updated on the basis of the most recent trends, to about 408 thousand in the final balance of the current year - acknowledging a likely decline in conception in March in December - and then further reduced to 393 thousand in 2021 ". 

The "simulations" carried out by Istat "strongly indicate how interventions to support the liquidity of companies are necessary in light of the new decline in activity levels connected with the second wave of the epidemic".

Thus the president of Istat, Gian Carlo Blangiardo, before the budget committees of the Chamber and Senate in hearing on the maneuver.

"Beyond the short-term changes in the sources of financing induced by the crisis - explained Blangiardo - the action on the financial dimension represents a central element for a transition of the business system towards profiles on average more complex, possible at all levels of dimensional scale and in all sectors ".

In particular, the evolution of businesses towards more growth-oriented profiles "is associated, according to recent analyzes conducted by Istat, with the possibility of diversifying sources of financing towards increasingly sophisticated forms of credit (such as equity, intra-group loans, etc.). ). This evidence is verified - with different levels of complexity of the structure of the sources of financing - in all size business segments, even the small ones. An effective incentive strategy for the evolution of the business structure should therefore identify " "differentiated financing models, adapted to the size of the companies, reducing costs and facilitating access", he concluded.

The single check, if accompanied by other interventions, can "help to alleviate the fall" of new born babies expected for next year, the result of the Covid emergency but also of a demographic trend that , for economic, social and cultural reasons, it has characterized Italy for some decades now, Blangiardo emphasized.

The check "can contribute, it is not the solution that solves the problem if left to itself, but together with other interventions it can help".