The labour ministry reported
Thursday that there was a big increase in the number of new job
contracts in March after government measures to combat Italy's
big unemployment levels kicked in.
The ministry said there was a net increase of 92,000 job
contracts last month, excluding domestic work and the civil
service, with 641,572 new contracts registered, while 549,273
were terminated.
It said the number of people hired on permanent,
opened-ended contracts was 162,498 in March, a whopping increase
of 49.5% on the 108,647 registered in the same month in 2014.
It added that the proportion of permanent contracts in
relation to the overall number of new hires was 25.3%, compared
to 17.5% a year ago.
This increase can be attributed in part to government
measures lifting social security contributions for a limited
period for many workers hired on new contracts.
Furthermore, the government's Jobs Act labour reform,
which makes it easier to fire newly-hired workers and introduces
a new form of labour contract with gradually increasing levels
of protection, came into force on March 6.
While new open-ended contracts increased in March,
temporary contracts dropped from 395,000 to 381,234, apprentice
contracts fell from 21,037 to 16,844, and freelance
"collaboration" contracts went from from 48,491 to 36,460.
Premier Matteo Renzi says the labour reform will make
firms to reluctant to hire new staff and help combat
unemployment, which has climbed to 12.7% and is hitting young
people hit especially hard.
It also aims to improve the quality of labour contracts,
replacing a plethora of temporary and other low-paying,
no-benefits contracts that have proliferated in Italy in recent
years, meaning a regular full time job is increasingly hard to
find.
President Sergio Mattarella said Thursday's figures were
"comforting" and should "boost confidence" for an economy that
is struggling to recover after years of recession.
But Susanna Camusso, the leader of Italy's biggest trade
union confederation CGIL, dismissed the data.
"What figures are we talking about, those from the
propaganda press office?", said Camusso, whose leftwing union is
staunchly opposed to the Jobs Act.
Camusso added that, even if the figures were correct, they
were not a vindication of the government's labour reform.
"The data from March is no different to the previous
month," she said.
I contratti a tempo indeterminato attivati sono stati 162.498
(quasi 54.000 in più su marzo 2014) a fronte di 131.128
contratti cessati. I rapporti di lavoro a tempo indeterminato
quindi, quelli per i quali è prevista la decontribuzione
triennale dalla legge di stabilità hanno avuto un saldo attivo
di oltre 31.000 unità. A marzo 2014 mentre il saldo complessivo
di tutte le tipologie contrattuali era stato positivo per oltre
61.000 unità (620.032 attivazioni a fronte di 558.366
cessazioni) era stato invece negativo per i contratti a tempo
indeterminato (36.000 in meno con 144.839 cessazioni a fronte di
108.647 attivazioni). I dati, che sono al netto del lavoro
domestico e della pubblica amministrazione, precisa il
ministero, sono da considerarsi provvisori.
Union chief says jobs data from propaganda office - update
Camusso says figures don't vindicate labour reform
Rome
(see related) Susanna Camusso, the
leader of Italy's biggest trade union confederation CGIL, on
Thursday dismissed labour ministry data reporting a rise in the
number of new job contracts in March as propaganda. "What
figures are we talking about, those from the propaganda press
office?", Camusso said. Camusso added that, even if the figures
were correct, they were not a vindication of the government's
Jobs Act labour reform, which came into force last month. "The
data from March is no different to the previous month," she
said.
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