Youth unemployment in Italy

Statistics

Youth unemployment in Italy is quantified by many measures. According to EU statistics, 10.6% of all Italian 15–24 year-olds were unemployed in 2015.[1] Comparatively, in the European Union 28 the rate that year was 8.4%.[1] These levels are deceptively low because they include both active and inactive youth, which counts students and those not looking for work. Leaving out the inactive population, 40.3% of 15–24 year-olds who were actively part of the labor force were unemployed in 2015.[2] 22% of the same population had been unemployed for 12 or more months, meaning more than half of the unemployed active Italian youth had been so long-term.[3] Yet another subset of the youth population is neither in employment nor in education and training (NEET), which in 2015 represented 21.4% of Italy's 15–24 year-olds.[4] In addition to complete unemployment, Italian youth also have high levels of underemployment. The number of 15–24 year-olds who worked full-time (30 hours per week) dropped from 1,597,000 in 2000 to 676,000 in 2015, while the number of part-time workers increased from 172,000 to 237,000 people.[5] Furthermore, 83.7% of the young part-time workers in 2015 did so involuntarily because they could not find full-time employment.[6]

Causes

Welfare system and labor market policy

From a structural perspective, Italy's problem of youth unemployment is caused by its protectionist welfare system and labor market. In 2015, 62.4% 15–24 year-olds who were registered unemployed for 6–11 months did not receive any benefits or assistance; the same rate measured in the population of 15–74 year-olds was 52.4%.[7] Though this demonstrates that benefits are exclusive for people of all ages in Italy, the young unemployed are left out at a rate 10% higher than the general population. This can be attributed to the country's corporatist structure; similarly to Greece, Spain, and Portugal (grouped into the "Southern Model" of European welfare) benefits in Italy are distributed in a very fragmented manner according to occupation.[8] There are separate benefit schemes, or "micro-schemes", for specific private and public sectors, types of self-employment, and the large group of industrial workers called INPS.[8] This system is split into the core group of labor market insiders receives generous benefits (such as pensions), while the irregular workers receive minimal benefits.[8] For example, upon retirement an institutional worker would receive a pension of 89% their average net earnings, but a non-institutional worker would receive only 19%.[8] Paradoxically, this "economic protection" model makes it difficult for young people to get their first job because they have never been part of the labor market.[9] To illustrate, the unemployment benefits given to an Italian 18 year-old who has never had a job is 0% of average net earnings.[8] In addition to receiving nonexistent/minimal benefits, a study also found youth were excluded based on factors including: the prerequisites for coverage, the age coverage is extended to, and sanctions for incorrectly using the system.[9] Italy's model has exclusive unemployment benefits coupled with inflexible labor market policy (which means workers have high employment protection and are unlikely to be fired), which creates inhospitable conditions for young people seeking jobs.[9][10]

Tertiary education system

Italy's university system is another force driving youth unemployment. In 2005, the gap between finishing school and obtaining employment 51.3 months, much higher than the EU average of 30 months.[11] Though 75% of Italian students earn a high school diploma that qualifies them to enter a university (one of the highest levels out of the OECD countries), only 70% of those students actually enroll in a university.[11] Of those who do attend a university, the educational system leaves them unprepared for the labor market. One reason is that students do not have contact with the labor market and do not gain work experience; 26.1% of unemployed youth have zero work experience, and until recently universities did not even have career services to connect students to job opportunities.[11][12] Courses generally do not involve practical application of the subject and there are not many educational internships.[12] Another characteristic of the Italian university system is that students take an extended amount of time to finish their degrees (for instance, students are allowed to retake their final exams up to six times).[12] Graduates are then overqualified for the labor market, meaning they have a higher skill level than what is in demand (called a vertical mismatch).[11][13] This forces university graduates to take jobs usually reserved for people with lower skill levels, such as those with secondary education or other post-secondary training.[13] Young non-university graduates then experience higher rates of unemployment (45%) than their degree-holding counterparts (25.6%).[14]

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Youth unemployment ratio (15-24)". Eurostat. European Commission. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  2. ↑ "Youth unemployment rate - % of active population aged 15-24". Eurostat. European Commission. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  3. ↑ "Youth long-term unemployment rate (12 months or longer) by sex and age". Eurostat. European Commission. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  4. ↑ "Youth neither in employment nor in education and training (NEET) rate, age group 15-24". Eurostat. European Commission. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  5. ↑ "FTPT employment based on a common definition". OECD.Stat. Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  6. ↑ "Involuntary part-time employment as percentage of the total part-time employment for young people by sex and age". Eurostat. European Commission. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  7. ↑ "Unemployment by sex, age, duration of unemployment and distinction registration/benefits (%)". Eurostat. European Commission. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Ferrera, Maurizio (1996-02-01). "The 'Southern Model' of Welfare in Social Europe". Journal of European Social Policy. 6 (1): 17–37. ISSN 0958-9287. doi:10.1177/095892879600600102.
  9. 1 2 3 Cinalli, Manlio; Giugni, Marco (2013-07-01). "New challenges for the welfare state: The emergence of youth unemployment regimes in Europe?". International Journal of Social Welfare. 22 (3): 290–299. ISSN 1468-2397. doi:10.1111/ijsw.12016.
  10. ↑ "OECD Indicators of Employment Protection - OECD". www.oecd.org. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Pastore, Francesco (2012). "Youth Unemployment in Italy at the Time of the New Great Depression". Friedrerich Ebert Stiftung.
  12. 1 2 3 Staley, Oliver (2013-06-09). "La Dolce Vita Eludes Italian Students Found Unemployable". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
  13. 1 2 "Employment rates of recent graduates - Statistics Explained". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
  14. ↑ "Unemployment rates of young people not in education and training by sex, educational attainment level and years since completion of highest level of education". Eurostat. European Commission. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
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