TOSCANA NEWS – FLASH JOB N.55/2023
In the fourth quarter of 2022, in Italy, labor input, measured in hours worked, increased by 3.1% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2021 and by 0.7% compared to the previous quarter; in the same period, GDP recorded a slight decline (-0.1%) in cyclical terms, while it increased by 1.4% in trend terms. In Tuscany, the total number of employed people grew by 1.4% on an annual basis while recording a loss of -0.9% on the previous quarter, confirming the slowdown in the growth rate already observed between July and September. Goodwill also shows a reduction on an annual basis and a zero change on the previous quarter. The overall result for 2022 is, however, remarkably positive, reaching an all-time high in the number of employed people with a sharp reduction in the number of unemployed, -17% on 2021, and in the unemployment rate, from 7.5% to 6.0% . The share of the so-called discouraged has also decreased considerably and female participation in the labor market has increased. The demand for employees favored the stable part above all through contractual transformations, 54 thousand in the year, the highest value since 2009. All sectors, with the sole exception of credit, show positive changes compared to 2021. They have not yet recovered the levels of the pre-Covid year the tanning, footwear and marble sectors.
VOLUNTARY RESIGNATIONS IN THE POST PANDEMIC At the end of 2021 until mid-2022, the number of resignations in Tuscany reached a historically high level, with almost 31,000 resignations per quarter, of which 56% with permanent contracts. This phenomenon has given rise to a debate with two different interpretations. According to a first current of thought, the “major” resignations were a phenomenon in line with the return of the economic scenario to the levels prior to the Covid-19 crisis, with a rapidly growing job market and with many more opportunities and vacancies than to the pre-pandemic period. A second line of interpretation, associated with a change of values accrued during the pandemic leads the increase in resignations to the desire to pursue a new balance between private life and work, for which one leaves one’s job to find a better, more fulfilling one with greater flexibility. Observing the historical series of voluntary resignations, however, it emerges that both the total volume observed in these two years and the rate of resignations are comparable with the values of 2008 and that their trend, both increasing and decreasing, is correlated to that of the economy in general and of the labor market in particular. The resignation rate is a cyclical indicator. Indeed, it is low during crises and increases during the recovery, especially when the economic recovery is rapid. During expansion phases, new job opportunities appear, encouraging people to quit more often. In the current context, the increase in the resignation rate observed up to the first half of 2022 appears in line with the recovery following the Covid-19 crisis, evidenced by the good performance observed in the labor market. It is therefore not surprising that the slowdown in the demand for labor in the second half of the year, resulting from the energy crisis, the inflationary trend, the failure to extend the Bonus 110, led to a decrease in voluntary resignations.
