Italy country of office workers - ISTAT (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, May 17 - Statistics agency ISTAT has drafted a new socio-economic map of Italy in its annual report, dividing the country into nine groups, not just on the basis of profession, but also according to income, educational qualifications and citizenship. The two most numerous groups are office-worker families, with 4.6 households for a total of 12.2 people, who belong to the prosperous segment; and the families of retired manual workers, 5.8 million households for over 10.5 million people, who are in the average income segment. Social inequality in Italy is rising and is "no longer just the distance between the various classes" ISTAT said in its annual report on Wednesday. "The growing complexity of the current world of world has increased diversity, not just between professions, but also within the same professional roles, intensifying the inequalities between social classes and within them".
    Italy had around 3.59 million jobless households in 2016 - those in which no member is in employment or draws a work pension, ISTAT said. The agency said the jobless households accounted for 13.9% of the total, although this went up to 22.2% in Italy's less prosperous southern regions. The number of jobless households in 2008 was 3.172 million - 13.2 of the total ISTAT President Giorgio Alleva said that Italy's economic recovery was not yet strong enough to benefit the weakest sections of society as he presented the report to parliament. "Due to the insufficient intensity of economic growth, the recovery is struggling to have the same positive effects on the whole population," Alleva said. "Italy has consolidated the recovery process that started in 2015... in the current phase, the process of growth is still struggling to fully express itself".