SARDEGNA - Employment
The activity rate in Sardinia was equal to 47.5% in 2002. This rate, only slightly below the national average (48.8%), places the region well above the level of the other regions of southern Italy and of some regions in the North and Centre (Umbria and Liguria).
Since the middle of the 1990s, the employment rate in Sardinia has grown by 11%, reaching an employment of 543 thousand persons in 2002. The number of unemployed, on the other hand, which grew during the last years of the 1990s, reaching 137 thousand people in 1999, has fallen again (to 123 thousand).
The unemployment rate equals 18% and is double compared to the national figure (9%). Unemployment among the young generation (under 29 years of age) is also well above the national average.
In 2002, women represented 33% of the workforce and 53% of the unemployed, values which, although far from those registered in the north and in the centre of Italy, are 3 or 4 percentage points higher than those registered in the region at the beginning of the 1990s. Women?s presence is particularly important among people looking for their first job (58%) and also among those who, although not actively looking for a job, would be available if an opportunity was offered to them (58%). A specific feature of the female labour force in Sardinia is its high level of education. Among the population with a university degree, the male/female ratio favours the latter, and this is even more evident in the unemployed population, where, out of 3 people with a degree, 2 of them are women.
On the whole, however, among the unemployed in 2002, 62% have a low education level, compared to a national average of 53%. This might furthermore be an explanation of the high unemployment rates in the region, particularly among the young people, as well as being a difficult problem to solve.
New forms of employment
The high rise in the employment rate which took place between 1996 and 2002 (+ 11% compared to a national level of 8.5%), is largely due to the introduction, in Italy, of new laws concerning work contracts, in particular part-time and fixed term contracts. The first category in fact concern 44 thousand persons, representing 8.1% of the total workforce, a value just under the national average (8.6%). This form of employment has increased in the last 6 years by over 52%, contributing by around one-third to the rise in employment. Although part-time employment is more widespread in regions with a high employment rate such as those in the north of Italy, in some southern regions, such as Sardegna, it has a particularly significant incidence with respect to other regions with high unemployment levels. The fact that it is practiced in this region by a large number of male workers, leads to consider it more a way of solving the unemployment problem, than a personal choice.
The number of persons employed with a fixed term contract has increased by around 60% between 1996 and 2002, compared to a rise at national level of 50%. The share of this kind of employment (15.2% of total employment) ranks Sardinia third among the Italian regions after Calabria and Sicily. Two thirds of these workers are employed in the services sector, in particular in the tourist sector, which has in the last years notably increased its demand for labour, typically seasonal in kind.
A progressive shift to the services sector
Employment in agriculture, having fallen dramatically towards the end of the 1990s, has stabilised at a share of 9% of total employment. Sardinia is thus the region of southern Italy which is less agricultural.
The expansion of sectors connected with tourist activities has shifted employment towards the services sector, in these last years. Employment in the services sector has in fact increased by over 17% between 1997 and 2002, compared to a national average of 13%.
The share of employment in the industrial sector, which has been below national average in the last years, has partly recovered, thanks to sectors such as construction (which now employs 11% of the workforce) and various sub-sectors connected to the processing of goods (which employ a further 11% of the workforce).
Self-employment has registered a slight, but significant, rise in recent years, after having lost 7 thousand units in just 5 years.
Particularly dynamic are the agricultural, building and trade sectors. The latter has registered a fall in the number of self-employed workers, in favour of those employed.
Low wages among the population employed
The average annual wage was equal to 27.3 thousand euros in 2001, ranking Sardinia among the last regions in Italy, together with Calabria, Puglia and Sicily.
Wages in Sardinia are lower than the national average in all major economic sectors, apart from agricultural and fishing activities (13.7 and 13.9 thousand euros against 13.5 and 13.6), together with the restoration and hotel industry (25.6 thousand euros against 24.8).
The overall picture is influenced by the internal composition of the economic sectors. The higher share of employment in the lower wage sectors (agriculture and construction) is in fact only partially compensated by a slightly higher then average share of the public sector (around 24% of the workforce compared to 19% at national level work in the public sector), which is characterised by higher wages (around 34 thousand euros a year in average).
Employment in the public sector has however reduced its share in the last years in favour of other activities in the services sector, which are more act at influencing the development of the regional economy.
|
|