UMBRIA - Employment
Job-creation schemes: a useful tool for employment
People seeking work in the region have a higher level of education than the average workforce. In fact, only 5% of job-seekers have no educational qualifications, while 40% have a senior secondary school-leaving certificate and 15% a university degree. An examination of supply and demand patterns in the labour market reveals that unemployment among young people is partly due to the significant imbalance between educated job-seekers and vacancies geared towards workers with a low level of education.
In 1990 in Umbria, 8 145 people (including 2 938 women) obtained jobs via training schemes, compared to 8 573 people in 1989. Of those starting work, 74% did so in the province of Perugia. Firms with fewer than 49 employees were involved in 62.4% of the job-creation schemes and 64.4% of those recruited via such schemes had a lower secondary school-leaving certificate, 34.2% a higher secondary school-leaving certificate and 1% a university degree.
30% of employment in public administration
The activity rate (% of the working population in relation to the corresponding total population) in Umbria is almost in line with the national average (47.5% in 2001). This is however the combined effect of a male rate below the average and a female rate above the average. The male rate, furthermore, has fallen since the beginning of the 1990s, whereas the female rate has risen.
The employment rate (% of the working population in relation to the corresponding population in working age) in Umbria, which has increased by 6.6% between 1990 and 2001, is higher than the national average (59.6% compared to 54.5%). This again is due in particular to the female participation in labour, as the female employment rate, with an increase of 22.3% since 1991, was equal to 49.6%, compared to an average rate of 40.9%.
Only 4.6% of the workforce (in 2001) is in agriculture, which is below the national average. Industry generates 32.8% of total employment (of which 6.4% in the construction sector), and services approximately 62.6% (of which almost one-half in the public sector).
Between 1995 and 2001 the region's agriculture has lost 1 500 jobs, while industry has gained 4 300 jobs and the services sector 3 400 jobs and is now the main source of employment in the region.
Unemployment decreasing since 1986
The unemployment rate rose between 1983 and 1985 and then fell gradually up to 1990. In 1986 short-time working allowances ('cassa d'integrazione') peaked with payment for over 14 600 000 hours, of which approximately 34% was in the province of Terni. Youth unemployment reached a peak in 1985 and fell between 1986 and 1989 to reach the 1990 minimum. The worst years of the economic crisis in Umbria were 1985 and 1986, when a high unemployment rate coincided with the record level of short-time working allowances. An analysis of the situation in the light of these two factors reveals the number of those who actually have jobs and the basic figure for those affected by the recession in the Umbrian economy. It was in this period that the steel industry in the province of Terni and the clothing and food industries in the province of Perugia experienced severe difficulties.
The unemployment rate has fallen throughout the 1990s, and was equal to 5.3% in 2001, one of the lowest rates amongst the Italian regions (3.4% for men and 8.0% for women). The unemployment rate is higher in the province of Terni. Unemployment amongst the younger generations (below 25) is also low compared to the average Italian figure (12.3% compared to 28.2%).
Per capita earnings below the national average
Since 1980 average per capita income has remained below the national average. Industry has been the sector lagging furthest behind, despite a slight improvement in 1984. The reason for this is presumably the system of wage-bargaining at company level: the small size of firms (in the entire region there are only eight companies with over 500 employees) means that workers have little bargaining power and this has kept earnings below the national average.
In the banking sector earnings are closer to the national average, as the different wage-bargaining system puts employees in a stronger position.
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