A mobile labor market with fewer and fewer young people. Young workers in Italy have become a rarity. In the decade 2012-2022, employed 15-34 year olds decreased by 7.6 percent and those aged 35-49 by 14.8 percent, while those aged 50-64 increased by 40.8 percent and those aged 65 and over by 68.9 percent. This is the finding of the sixth Censis-Eudaimon Report on Corporate Welfare, produced in collaboration with Eudaimon, a leader in corporate welfare services, with contributions from Credem, Edison and Michelin. According to the report, workers are aging, and in the future there will be fewer and fewer of them: it is estimated that by 2040 the labor force as a whole will have decreased by 1.6 percent, as a result of the radical demographic transition the country is experiencing.
46.7% of employed Italians would leave their current job if they could. This would be done by 50.4 percent of young people and 45.8 percent of adults, 58.6 percent of blue-collar workers, 41.6 percent of white-collar workers and only 26.9 percent of managers. We read in the Censis Report, which points out that 64.4 percent of the employed say they work only to make the money they need to live and do the things they like, with no other existential motivation. This is especially true for 69.7 percent of young people and 75.6 percent of blue-collar workers.
What are the reasons for the restlessness surrounding the relationship with one’s job? First, career difficulties: for 65.0% of the employed, opportunities for professional advancement are insufficient. Second, unsatisfactory salaries: 44.2% of the employed consider the perceived salary inadequate for their needs (this is more true for young people: 53.0%).
Then there is the fear of losing one’s job: 42.6 percent of workers fear that they may find themselves unemployed in the near future (the figure increases to 51.6 percent among those employed in small businesses, compared to 34.9 percent of those employed in large companies). This is a current and concrete precariousness, more tangible than the one foreshadowed by the announced revolutions related to technological innovation.
