A-Infos (en) Italy, Umanita Nova #27-25 - Employment, Unemployment, Job Precariousness. The Lies of Statistics (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Some have classified statistics as a form of lying. This is either 
because inconsistent data are assembled, or because part of that data is 
arbitrarily omitted to serve a pre-established thesis. Other times, it 
is the inflation of data and sources that makes synthesis more 
difficult. Some reflections, not new, on employment. ---- The Prime 
Minister's narrative presents a flourishing economy with rising 
employment and entrepreneurs complaining about not finding workers 
willing to be exploited for a few euros. A true reversal of reality.

In the employment sector, the most recent data are from July and show an 
employment rate of 62.8%, increasing year-on-year. In June, the 
annualized balance-that is, the difference between hirings and 
terminations over the last 12 months-was actually positive by 352,000 
positions. However, analyzing data from the INPS Labor Market 
Observatory, hires in the first half of 2025 alone, over 4.2 million, 
are down 2.6% compared to the first half of 2024. This decline did not 
affect seasonal and intermittent work contracts, which are, not 
coincidentally, the least protected categories. The 4.2% reduction in 
temporary work contracts corresponded to a 3.6% increase in intermittent 
contracts, the most popular hiring method among companies. Among 
fixed-term contracts, the most significant development in the first half 
of the year was the surge in seasonal employment, with new hires 
exceeding 680,000, exceeding new permanent contracts, which remained 
stable at just over 666,000 (-6.2%). Seasonal work concerns the tourism, 
hospitality, and agriculture sectors, which contain much of the 
undeclared, gray, and underpaid labor, often used as a form of blackmail 
against migrants. The balance between hiring and permanent positions, 
compared to the first half of 2024, is down 1.8%.

Where are the major gains in job creation? And what kind of jobs are 
they talking about? Furthermore, excluding the effects of the so-called 
"southern tax relief" measure, a decline of 68.3% would be observed. 
Female employment (those with a contract) fell by 1.6%, despite the 
total tax exemption. And there's a lot to say.
In-work poverty is on the rise. Eurostat and ISTAT report that in 2024, 
10.3% of working people are at risk of poverty, up from 9.9% in 2023, 
and this also applies to graduates. Not only in the fashion and 
logistics districts, but also in universities, researchers, research 
fellows, PhD students, and temporary workers took to the streets in May 
to protest wage cuts and the rise in precarious employment.

The number of workers at risk of poverty, with incomes below 60% of the 
national median, is expected to increase in 2024 compared to the 
previous year. Analysis of wage trends tracked by the ILO over a 17-year 
period shows that Italy has suffered the greatest losses in absolute 
terms of purchasing power since 2008. Among the advanced economies of 
the G20, real wage losses were 8.7% in Italy, 6.3% in Japan, 4.5% in 
Spain, and 2.5% in the United Kingdom. Each of our personal and family 
financial statements bears witness to this.

The Italy of those who extol Made in Italy products extols a model that 
in reality consists of chains of contracting and subcontracting in which 
workers, predominantly migrants, earn just a few euros an hour, from 
contract to contract, from one company to another, in a relay that keeps 
those who do it, certainly not those who command, awake at night. The 
recent case involving Loro Piana, a prestigious "Italian, eco-friendly, 
sustainable" company, has exposed a situation of near-slavery: workers, 
mostly immigrants, are forced to produce garments for a few euros, which 
are then resold for thousands in major fashion stores. And they are 
certainly not an isolated case. Underpaid workers, subjected to 
production pressures, who often face violence and repression even when 
demanding the enforcement of their contracts, are a widespread reality. 
This is evidenced, for example, by the logistics struggles: we remember 
the death of union representative Adil Belakhdim. And the serious events 
in Montemurlo a few weeks ago are only the latest in a series of attacks 
on striking workers by employers or private company security. The Meloni 
government supports repression and threats: Law 80/2025 provides 
sanctions and penalties for protesters, including passive resistance, 
and Minister Salvini has publicly threatened retaliation against the 
millions of workers who exercised their right to strike on Friday, 
October 3, calling for an end to the Palestinian genocide and in support 
of the Flotilla volunteers.

Exploitation has many faces. Failure to comply with safety regulations, 
as well as pressure on production times, are among the causes of serious 
accidents, even deaths. According to INAIL data, there were 607 
workplace deaths (work-related deaths) in 2025: a 5.2% increase compared 
to 2024, more than two per day.

Finally, there is female employment. ISTAT-CNEL statistics show 
employment rates between approximately 57% and 69%, depending on whether 
the woman lives with a partner or alone. In addition to accounting for a 
large portion of that low-wage, intermittent, often forced part-time 
work, where is the undeclared work found in care for the elderly and 
disabled, in cleaning, in the restaurant industry, or in tourism? And 
where are the statistics for blank resignations signed for use in the 
event of pregnancy?

A brief and incomplete summary of the overall picture of the extremely 
serious situation of employment and income, where every aspect is 
intertwined.

Working conditions are worsening, precariousness is increasing, and 
gang-mastering is present in various sectors, particularly construction 
and agriculture. The war economy, with resources allocated to military 
spending and diverted from healthcare and services, exacerbates the 
decline in real wages, while the government's narrative continues to 
equate all forms of employment, from temporary work to on-call work to 
informal work. People continue to die at work, suffer intimidation, and 
in some cases, actual violence when they demand the enforcement of their 
contracts. The fascist government, with its harbingers of violence, 
somehow sets an example for those who want to impose exploitation and 
brutality. Only we can overturn this reality. And so do the millions of 
people who took to the streets this week everywhere.

Nadia Nardi

https://umanitanova.org/occupazione-disoccupazione-precarieta-le-menzogne-delle-statistiche/
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