Youth unemployment in Italy discusses the statistics, trends, causes and consequences of unemployment among young Italians. Italy displays one of the highest rates of youth unemployment among the 35 member countries of the Organization of Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). The Italian youth unemployment rate started raising dramatically since the 2008 financial crisis reaching its peak of 42.67% in 2014. In 2017, among the EU member states, the youth unemployment rate of Italy (35.1%) was exceeded by only Spain and Greece. The Italian youth unemployment rate was more than the double of the total EU average rate of 16.7% in 2017. While youth unemployment is extremely high compared to EU standards, the Italian total unemployment rate (11.1%) is closer to EU average (7.4%).
Statistics
Youth unemployment in Italy can be quantified by many measures. According to the World Bank, the youth unemployment rate is 34.726% as of September 27, 2018. Throughout Italy's history of tracking youth unemployment (1983 to 2018), the average percentage has been 30%. Between 1994 and 2000, youth unemployment averaged 33% In certain regions of Italy, especially the southern region of Calabria, the unemployment rate is higher than the rest of the country. As of 2017, Calabria has the highest rate of youth unemployment in the country with 55.6% of the population unemployed between the ages of 15 and 24. In contrast, the 2017 statistic for the lowest rate of youth unemployment was recorded in the northern region of Italy in Trentino-South Tyrol at 14.4%. In 2017, nearly 1 in 5 young Italians were considered to be in the group of unemployed, not looking for employment, and not enrolled in school. In 2017, young Italian families were shown to have a stronger chance of living without income or in complete poverty. Nearly 60% of these families belonged to the generalized group of "new entrants", or rather workers that were attempting to join the labor market for the first time. These young Italians and their families are nearly 3.5 times more likely to be unemployed than older Italians. When compared to the ratio of Germany (1.5 times more likely), young Italians have a much higher chance to remain unemployed. Jobs for young Italians are in great demand in Italy, with certain financial positions receiving 85,000 applications and accepting only 30 candidates. Certain Italian hospital positions have received 7,000 applications and accepted only 10 candidates. These examples of limited employment positions are representative of the day-to-day conditions that young Italians face when searching for employment.
Historically, 40.3% of 15–24 year-olds who were actively part of the labor force were unemployed in 2015.
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. 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. 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. Furthermore, 83.7% of the young part-time workers in 2015 did so involuntarily because they could not find full-time employment.
Transition from education to employment
The transition period from school to work has been cited as a primary cause of youth unemployment in Italy. The Italian education system has been blamed for being unable to provide work experience. Many students who graduate from secondary education in Italy are overqualified for the jobs available to them, especially in manufacturing and export sectors. Consequently many of the youth are limited to either temporary work or unemployment. By 2010, temporary contracts accounted for 50% of the youth in Italy, which only facilitated the churning of unemployment and increased the transition period between going back to school and finding a full-time job.
Before 2005, the period between graduating from school and the gap between obtaining employment was 51.3 months, which is much higher than the EU average of 30 months. Graduates are then overqualified for the labor market, meaning they have a higher skill level than what is in demand (called a vertical mismatch). Young non-university graduates consequently experience higher rates of unemployment (45%) than their degree-holding counterparts (25.6%).