Economic recovery cannot be separated from employment recovery. The crisis has in fact had a serious impact on the labour market, making pointless many of the advances made by European States up to 2008.
The strategy 'Europe 2020' is to be implemented in a difficult environment where the levels of employment fall down, unemployment grows and inequality is still evident; under such circumstances, Europe 2020 is an even more essential tool for achieving stability and creating growth opportunities in the next future.
In Italy, employment was immediately identified as a top priority for the Monti Government. The starting point was to discuss a blocked and unfair labour market, where some groups of workers were extremely protected and others were left without any forms of protection against unemployment. Therefore, two paths were carved out: the extension of social protection and productivity growth.
The keyword seems to be flexibility, in and out of employment: the permanent contract is a value deeply rooted in Italian society and often is intended as a preliminary requirement to make specific personal choices (e.g. to leave the household of origin, to have a child) and social choices (e.g. to open a loan), but nowadays it hinders the development of the market; employers are in fact often put off by the permanent contract due to its high costs and by the difficulty to ensure a permanent post, and consequently they veer towards temporary contracts.
Asking the workers for more mobility implies, however, ensuring the presence of a solid and widespread network of protection to be used in the event of temporary unemployment. Hence the need for a structural reform of social welfare networks, at the moment characterised by strong diversities (among production sectors, different size of businesses and type of contract) and by a lack of effective active policies to incentivise job searching.
The aim of the new Government is to focus on two categories which are notoriously more penalised by the Italian labour market, i.e. young people and women.
Full inclusion of women should be ensured, finding new strategies to reconcile family life and work life, therefore increasing women's employment possibilities. Women are in fact required to be mothers, wives, daughters and workers, but they should be relieved from such burdens, for example by encouraging the division of responsibility for children to both parents, adapting care systems to the new needs of the family and adapting work hours to the family schedule.
But the primary objective of governmental action is young people: President Monti addresses them as the talents on whom to invest to give new impetus to the recovery of Italy. It is essential to provide young people with more opportunities during the difficult period of insertion into the labour market, by finding the tools most adapted for facilitating employment. In this respect, an apprenticeship appears to be one of the key channels: by creating a link between education and work, it allows businesses to train the workers in a way that is suitable to the actual needs of the market, and allows young people to acquire the technical and professional skills which the education system is not able to give. The Veneto Region has been long moving in this direction: remarkable are the results achieved in term of apprenticeships for the fulfilment of the right-duty to education and training, and apprenticeships in higher education to obtain a PhD qualification.
If young people and women shall be a priority for the Italian Government over the next few months, the elderly were the first to be involved in the current process of change. The reform of the pension system has already been operational since 01/01/2012, upon its presentation in decree-law 201/2011 'Save Italy': budget constraints and economic-financial stability of the pension system are the objectives defined by the Monti Government; such objectives have been translated into an increase of the pension age and a full transition to the contribution system.

To exit from the economic crisis, Europe can count on a very important tool: the 'Europe 2020' strategy, which identifies priorities and objectives to be reached within the current decade. With regards to the difficult labour situation, the European Commission defined an ambitious objective: reach an employment rate of 75% of the population between 20 and 64 years old, before 2020.
Given the complex situation of the Italian labour market, this target seems a long way away; the Italian government has fixed, therefore, a more realistic objective for Italy, between 67% and 68%. Much, however, remains to be done: in 2010, the unemployment rate for people aged 20-64 in Italy exceeded 61%, 14 percentage points under the European target and 6 per cent lower than the Italian target. The situation in Veneto is better, as the region has already reached the national objective: the share of employed is 69% and now heads towards the European target.
However, the rate of unemployment clearly depicts the difficult time that Europe is living; in the map below, the values of 2001 are shown in green (low unemployment) and in red (high unemployment), marking a clear boundary between Eastern Europe, where the unemployment rate in many cases exceeded 12.5%, and Central Europe, where rates were lower than 6%. Veneto, with 3.5 unemployed out of every 100 people belonging to the labour force, is among the regions with lower unemployment, together with many regions of Southern Germany and Austria.
In 2008, red almost disappeared from the European map: few regions exceeded 12.5%, among those were the South of Spain, Sicily and Campania in Italy, Eastern Germany, Macedonia, part of Hungary and Slovakia. Veneto continued to remain in an area of low unemployment, recording a rate equal to 3.5%.
In 2010 the worsening of Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Greece and Baltic Countries was clear. The green coloured area was reduced to just a few regions concentrated in central Europe, among those the North of Italy, Austria and Central Southern Germany. In Veneto, the unemployment rate remained among the lowest in Europe, despite the increase seen in the years after the crisis. (Figure 3.1.1)
The 'Europe 2020' strategy naturally evolved from the Lisbon strategy, which was initiated in 2000 and fixed a target of 70% employment rate for 15-64 year old people, to be reached before 2010.
From 2000 to 2008, Veneto found the right push to be able to achieve the European objectives, but the economic crisis slowed down the growth, thus moving the goal posts: the employment rate from 2008 to 2010 decreased by almost 2 per cent and unemployment rate increased by the same. In any case, the employment levels of Veneto kept above the national and European average. Italy followed the same trend: employment increased and unemployment fell until 2007-2008 and then the trend quickly changed.
In this context, 2011 may mark a turning point: employment in Veneto grew by 0.4 per cent and unemployment lost 0.8 per cent; it is now up to 2012 to see if the change is really in place, by confirming these values or not. (Figure 3.1.2)
Not all productive sectors were affected by the economic crisis in the same way. Industry, which for years has seen a decrease in weight compared to services, paid the heaviest toll. The transition from an industrial economy to one founded on services has been visible for some time: at the end of the Seventies, the industrial sector in Veneto employed about 44% of workers, a value which steadily declined, especially after 2000, until reaching 37% in 2011. At the same time, the scope of services gained more importance: in 1980, 43 employed out of 100 worked in this sector, in 2011 it was almost 60.
The crisis therefore pressed on an already precarious situation for industry: from 2008 to 2010, manufacturing activities overall lost 11% of employed, albeit with very different situations. In Veneto, textile, food, tanning and other manufacturing industries, such as furniture and jewellery makers, had to give up more than 20% of workers. On the contrary, the chemical industry and the wood sector saw a significant increase in employment (+19% chemical, +15% wood).
Regarding the services industry, only financial services and the hotel and catering sectors were affected by the crisis, whereas trade saw an increase in employment by 5%, and public, social and personal services (waste disposal, associations and recreational organisations, family services etc.) increased by 12%.
A further indicator for identifying the most affected sectors is the number of hours paid out by the redundancy fund (CIG). In 2010, out of about 124,500,000 hours granted in Veneto, 22% were assigned to the metallurgic sector, 20% to the mechanical sector and a significant 13% to the textile industry. These three sectors, together with tanneries, recorded the highest ratio between the number of hours granted and employed people: for each worker, 250 to 340 hours of CIG were granted. In Italy the majority of redundancy fund was absorbed by the textile, mechanical and metallurgic industries, but the highest ratio between CIG and number of employed people is seen in the food, coke and transport industries.
As a result of these changes, the labour market in Veneto seems to have lost some of its ability to attract foreigners. The number of employed non Italian citizens grew rapidly in the last decade, signalling an increase of 14% between 2006 and 2007 and of 18% between 2007 and 2008. In the years after the crisis, the share of foreigners maintained a growing trend, but with weaker variations. Furthermore, the employment rate of foreigners, exceeding that of Italians until 2009, fell sharply until reaching 62.4% in 2010.

The objectives of surpassing the crisis and ensuring full employment require giving support to the whole population, especially the categories that are more easily at risk of remaining excluded from the labour market. Increasing the job participation for women and young people is a necessary step to achieve the objectives of competitiveness and growth, and the current reforms which are moving in this direction. The 'Save Italy' decree provided for the establishment of a Fund specific for young people and women, in order to increase their employment rate and establish a greater balance of opportunities among the various population groups, through the creation of new possibilities of accessing the world of labour under less disadvantaged conditions compared to people that are already stably employed, and combating any rigidity aimed at the protection of a few people.
In Italy, young people today face challenges and new problems compared to their peers of past generations, and in an evermore competitive society compared to other Countries.
In 2010, Italians aged between 15 and 34 represented 22% of the population, a share in decline compared to the previous ten years; Veneto, where people between 15 and 34 years old are a little more than a million, the slow process of 'aging at the bottom' of the population is also taking place, a result of low birth rates and increasing longevity.
Investment in education is increasing, even if the gap with other European countries remains significant: the percentage of graduates between 30 and 34 years old rose to 18.6% in Veneto and 19.8% in Italy, and a growth was recorded over the last 5 years, but still such values are under the European average (EU27 33.6%). However, the educational system, which should be one of the main tools of social promotion, in Italy more than elsewhere in Europe is not yet able to fully overcome the inequalities of social origin. There has undoubtedly been a great increase to the general level of education, but the path towards greater equality of opportunities has been only partial and the conditioning of the social and cultural status of the family of origin remains strong in the choice of the course of study as early as from secondary school, in the probability of access to university, especially in some faculties, as well as scholastic achievement and subsequent employment outcomes.
The courses of study are longer compared to their European counterparts, the high costs of housing and rent, as well as the more difficult conditions of the labour market, least flexible and rewarding, certainly do not help the young people of Italy to realise their life projects and independence. The Italians stay living at home longer, marry later and the age at which they become parents is among the highest in Europe. If in the Countries of North Europe the separation from the family of origin occurs sooner, in general before 25 years of age and even shortly after coming of age in Scandinavian Countries, in Italy the tendency is to live with the parents until over 30 years of age: in 2011, 59% of 18-34 year olds still lived as a child in the family of origin, and in Veneto the percentage was only a little lower, i.e. 57.8%. This is for sure also due to a cultural factor, because in Italy the link with the family is particularly strong and remains intense for a long time, however, this is to be taken into consideration also in the light of the specificity of welfare regimes, which are not very generous to the young and the family in general.
The crisis certainly hinders young people in their decision to leave the nest: even among those which have the intention to do so, many are stopped by the economic difficulties. For example, 44% of Veneto inhabitants aged 18-34 years old who live with their parents say that they are not able to leave home because they cannot find work or because they cannot afford the costs related to renting or buying a house.
The housing problem is particularly felt by the younger population and, as shown by CNEL research (Note 1) on the housing conditions of young people, the main causes of discomfort regard unsustainable costs and the absence of the institutions, which underestimate the problem of housing among the under 35s; furthermore, the housing difficulty can limit territorial mobility to those who want to pursue opportunities of study or work, resulting in a rigid labour market.
Access to a house and supporting the relative expenses is becoming increasingly difficult, as expressed by the economic sustainability index, which takes into account the costs for the house, impact on income and if the family has sufficient resources for other consumption and to keep an acceptable standard of living. This is an indicator between 0 and 100, where 0 represents the worse condition and 100 the most favourable condition, i.e. maximum sustainability. In general, the index of the households of Veneto, equal to 73 out of 100 points, shows an acceptable level of economic sustainability of housing, but for young people who live alone it instead shows suffering, reaching a value of 43.5, a decline of almost 10 points compared to the previous year.
Nevertheless, young people are generally positive and are on average happy with their life on the whole, expressing about 7 and a half out of 10, on a scale from 0 to 10, where 10 represents maximum satisfaction: they are particularly satisfied by the intensity of their relationships with family and friends (92% and 90% respectively of young Venetians aged between 15-34), and satisfied with their free time activities; they actually express a lower degree of satisfaction about the quality of their work (79%) and their economic conditions (50%), in particular the young between 25-34 years old and especially in the recent period. (Table 3.2.1)

Work: excuse me, can we come in?

It is young people the ones who suffer the most from the crisis. The unofficial unemployment rate, calculated for the age group 15-24 years old, shows a decisively negative trend. In Veneto, it remained above 13% for the whole of the Nineties, to then decrease until reaching the minimum values in 2002 and 2007 (8.3% and 8.4% respectively). The crisis then took effect: within a few years the unemployment grew over 11 percentage points and in Veneto the number of young people who were looking for work without finding it reached 30 thousand in 2011; in Italy, unemployment reached even higher levels indicating 29.1% among the labour force, with peaks of 42-44% in some regions of the South such as Campania, Sicily and Sardinia.
In the successive age group, between 25 and 34 years of age, the situation for young people improves significantly: although not reaching the values of the rest of the population, in 2011 the unemployment rate dropped by 6.8% in Veneto and 11.7% in Italy. It was therefore the under 25s who suffered most from the effects of the crisis and the difficulty in entering the labour market: more than half of the unemployed, in fact, are searching for their first job.
Causing most concern are the young people who remain unemployed for long periods of time: for about 10 thousand young people 6.4% of the labour force, the status of unemployment lasts for 12 months or more. Long durations of unemployment generate negative effects, especially for young people: on one hand, it can cause discouragement, which then turns into a total withdrawal from job searching; on the other hand, a prolonged period out of the labour market at the start of one's career impedes professional growth, the development of new experiences and the use of the skills acquired during the period of study. Therefore, it is a vicious circle: the more you are out of the labour market, the more difficult it is to try and re-enter it (Figure 3.2.1)
Yet more worrying is the situation of those young people who do not work, do not study and are not in undergoing education or training, or rather the 'NEETs' an acronym for 'Not in Education, Employment or Training'. From 2007 to 2010 in Veneto, the NEETs went from 35 thousand to 65 thousands, in percentage terms from 7.9% to 14.4% of young people aged 15-24. In Italy the situation is even more critical, and in the last year for which data are available the NEETs exceeded 19%. Above all this is inactive young people, i.e. they are not actively searching for work, but their increase over time is mostly linked to the increase in the number of the unemployed: in 2007, the year in which the share of NEETs recorded the lowest value, in Veneto 32 out of 100 NEETs were unemployed and 68 were inactive, and in 2010 42 were unemployed and 58 inactive. In particular, the amount of young people searching for their first job grew, from 5 to 15 thousand, as well as that of the 'ex employed', i.e. young people who lost a job and then go on to look for a new one. (Table 3.2.2)

The first steps in the labour market

These first analyses have shown how the crisis has worsened the situation of young people, especially increasing the obstacles and barriers to access the labour market. But which tools are available to young people when they leave school? What difficulties do they meet upon first entering the world of labour?
In Veneto, 54% of young people aged 15-34 who finished their educational course face the labour market as holders of a secondary school diploma and 14% as holders of a university or tertiary education degree. The remaining 32% have not achieved either diploma and are getting ready to face the first work experiences with only a middle school leaving certificate. Among these poorly qualified teenagers, a significant share (29%) started to attend high school, only to later leave due to having difficulties in their studies. If these students had not left their courses of study, the share of poorly educated young people would drop to 23%, whereas if the high school graduates who abandoned university courses would have obtained the final degree, the share of young people with high qualifications would stand at 19%. It can therefore be said that if young people were given more support during their education, also in terms of quality and quantity of orientation, the average level of the human capital would increase rapidly.
Furthermore, 85% of 15-34 year olds who left school has had a work experience for longer than 3 months, a value which ranges from 79% for young people with low qualification to 88% for those with a high school diploma. Holding a university degree influences the entrance time in the world of labour: 55% of university graduates had their first significant work experience within a year of obtaining their qualification, while the same percentage of young people with low qualification usually has such experience after one year. (Table 3.2.3)
Out of 100 young people who currently work, 29 are in their first job and 71 are in at least their second job. Regarding this second group of people, a comparison between their first job and their second job helps to analyse the changes which have occurred. This comparison shows that 61% of 15-34 year olds, in spite of their having changed job, continue to work at the same professional level, whereas only 20% have improved their position. In this context, university graduates change job in a greater percentage than others, but they have more possibilities to improve: in Veneto, 25% of graduates currently have a job that is better than the first the got, a situation which occurs for only 15% of young people with middle school education. It should however be noted that the graduates need to strive a lot to improve their professional position: on average, to be able to have a possibility of advancement in the work place they have to wait five years from obtaining their degree.
In Italy, a different situation is observed: university graduates in 70% of cases maintain the same profession and their degree has more of a protective effect against the possibility of worsening their career.
With regards to the difference in gender, women are the ones who more often succeed in improving their job: in Veneto, the men-women divide on the share of persons who have advanced in their career is 7 percentage points in favour of women. (Table 3.2.4)
But the change does not occur solely in terms of increased professionalism: the stability of the job position has also to be considered. Little more than half of employed people started their career with a permanent contract and continues to keep this contract. Alongside this situation, considered optimal by the majority of workers, about 15% of 15-34 year olds remain holders of a fixed term contract (temporary contract, collaboration contract and contracts for occasional provision of labour or services), whereas a further 14% change from a fixed term contract to a permanent contract.
Analysis per educational qualification shows some contrasting aspects. On one hand, the percentage of university graduates who improve their job security is higher than the percentage of young workers having lower qualifications, but the share of graduates who remain in a precarious situation is higher, and this is true both in Veneto and in the whole of Italy.
As already seen for professional positions, also for job security young people must wait at least five years before achieving a substantial improvement: the percentage of 15-34 year olds who change from fixed term contracts to permanent contracts is equal to 5% among the young who have finished studying since at least 3 years, rising to 13% among those who left the education system from 3 to 5 years ago, then reaching 16% in the group of those who have been in the labour market for at least 5 years. At the same time the share of young people who are in precarious situations is 44% for those who have recently finished school and 10% for those who have left school since more than 5 years. (Figure 3.2.2)

Juggling work-home life, how do we do it?

The situation of women in Italian society is still contradictory: on the one hand we see a growth in female higher education, already higher than that of men; on the other hand the signals of delay and gender inequality persist.
The scarce presence of women in the world of work, especially in senior positions, together with a fertility rate among the lowest in Europe, shows how the lack of adequate services aimed at reconciliation of the tasks of managing a family with work and a certain lifestyle, still falls predominantly on women.
There were over two and a half million women resident in Veneto in 2010, and about 64% of them were old enough to work. They are required to work without giving up their children. Divided between work, home, looking after the children and, possibly, also elderly or disabled family members, women workers are struggling because they are busy on several fronts and often suffer from a lack of support from inside the family, but also from a lack of external support by the public welfare system.
The Italian policy of regional development (QSN 2007-2013 (Note 2)) plays a key role in the improvement of essential services, among its objectives is to increase the diffusion of childcare services and home care for the elderly to lighten the family load and therefore enhance the participation of women at the work place, especially in Southern regions where the problem is more felt. Even though there is a growing presence in the area of public services for early childhood, such as nursery schools and integrated services, so much so that in 2009 78% of the municipalities of Veneto were offering such services (57% in Italy), children who are able to access them are still few, i.e. 12.5% of children under three years old. Also limited is the amount of elderly with homecare, not even 6% of the population of 65 years old and over; it is therefore the women who in many cases must support the costs of looking after children and the elderly or disabled family members, and foresee for a still difficult situation in the future.
Finally, a strong inequality remains among genders, even in the division of workload within the family. In 2008-2009, in couples in which the woman was 25 to 44 years old, or in the phase of life in which she was working or became a mother, 71% of family commitments burdened women. Although steadily declining in recent years, there is widespread unease across the whole of Italy, although the North has kept the most contained levels (69%). In Italy, also due to cultural reasons, the man hardly ever participates in domestic activities: Italian female workers, in fact, dedicate almost 4 hours to the home a day (to cook, clean, look after the children, etc.) much more than women do in other European Countries.
In this context, the policies for conciliation are aimed at providing strategies which can make both work and family life compatible, allowing each individual to get the best out of their different roles in society.
The Veneto Region has already promoted policies for conciliation for some time, through the realisation of different projects; recently, Veneto has been the first in Italy to introduce a new International instrument called 'Audit', already widespread through Germany and Austria. This is a certification released to businesses which collaborate in the enhancement of intangible resources, i.e. human resources, favouring the growth of professional skills and career possibilities while taking into account the specific phase of family life experienced of each worker.
A careful organisation of human resources, in the definition of shifts, flexible working hours, telecommuting, part-time work and other facilities to the employee and their families, ensuring on one hand more efficient and productive business management, on the other a reduction in stress, illness, absenteeism and an improvement in the workers' quality of life (Table 3.2.5)

Children and work, a transforming relationship

Better conditions for families, greater focus on the needs of the minors and the elderly and a wider range of services, are all factors which encourage demographic renewal and a better balance between life and work for women.
Up until the Eighties, the relationship between female occupation and number of children was negative, or rather high fertility corresponded to a low participation of women in the work place, on the contrary in the countries with a high proportion of employed women, who were taking time and strength away from the family, the birth rate was the lowest. Later, however, the relationship changed: today, it is the countries with greater female employment to generally have a greater number of children, and it is the countries with weak employment, such as Italy, to have the lowest birth rate. In fact, changes over the last decade have pushed women in into the labour market for two main reasons: the first is that the work, and therefore the economic independence which goes with it, is a fundamental means of independence and appreciation of the woman; the second is that to live today in a family, a single income is no longer enough and two incomes are needed. In practice, in countries in which conciliation between work and private life is more complex, the employment rate of women is generally low and, at the same time, the birth rates are not high has one would expect, as the women do not allow themselves many children. The couples decide to bring a child into the world when they have a certain degree of security and economic stability, therefore having a job is a necessary condition to have a child, whereas not having a job can be a sufficient cause to postpone or avoid having a baby.
In Northern European Countries where finding a job is less difficult and the conciliation tools are more advanced, the women chose to have a greater number of children, safely keeping their jobs. This is the case of Denmark and Sweden which, in 2010 recorded both the highest female employment in Europe, exceeding 70%, and had birth rates among the highest (in 2009 the average number of children per woman was equal to 1.84 and 1.94). France is also good, having reached the Lisbon objective of having 60% of women in employment before 2010, with an average number of children per woman equal to 2.
In Italy, however, despite the growth from the Nineties, the female participation in the work place remains low (46.1%) and on average a woman decides to have 1.41 children. In line with European data, the Northern Italian regions with the highest employment rate have the highest reproduction rates, the top among these being the Aosta Valley, Trentino Alto Adige and Emilia Romagna, with female employment around 60% and birth rates higher than 1.50. Conversely, the Southern regions suffer from a difficult job situation and consequently, being uncertain of their unstable economy, couples have less children. (Figure 3.2.3)
Veneto is one of the regions with the strongest propensity to raising children, 1.46 in 2009, but there is still much to do to reach the desired levels of employment: despite the growth of female participation in the work place, since 1993 over 11 per cent, the rate was steady in 2011 at 54.8%. (Figure 3.2.4)
Finally, it should be noted that the recovery of the birth rate recorded in the last few years, to which mostly the Northern regions have contributed, has increased partly also due to the growth of foreigners which show a greater inclination to having children.

The employment situation of women who live in a couple

To delve deeper into the topic in question, we should also deal with the employment situation of women living in a couple at the age group 15-54 years old.
In Veneto almost 61% of women with an employed partner work, against the Italian figure equal to 50%, whilst 27.4% of women (32.4% in Italy) do not work and live on the husband/partner's income. But the percentage shares change remarkably in the presence or absence of children: although in comparison with the national data Veneto shows a better situation, in this region a good 30% of women with children stay at home while their husbands work, compared to 17% of women without children. The higher their education qualifications, the more women are inserted in the labour market. (Table 3.2.6)
And when they do work, women have better jobs than their partners in almost 39% of cases. Despite this, the pay is a lot lower: in Veneto only 18.3% of women earn more than men (four percentage points less than Italian data), whereas 66% earn less, and many women take home a monthly salary of over 400 Euros less than their partner. Fortunately, the higher is the educational qualification the narrower is the gap, but if the couple has children, the woman earns a lot less than her partner compared to women who do not have children. (Table 3.2.7)

The difficulties of women in the world of labour

The difficulties women meet with in the world of labour are even greater.
Poor flexibility: in Veneto, over two thirds of working women have rigid working times and no distinction is made between those who have and do not have children. And for the woman who has a high qualification flexibility is even lower compared to her male colleagues having the same educational level.
A quarter of women cannot vary the times of getting to work and leaving work and over a third do not have the option of being away from work for a day without asking for holiday if they have family problems.
Finally, as many as 55% of women with a child under eight years old did not take maternity leave; in particular, 14% because there was little or no pay for this period, and another 14.4% because they thought it would have a negative effect on their career or the employer created problems or because there was no flexibility in the choice of this period.

To get over the crisis it is also necessary to keep older people in the work place, giving them the opportunity to be a resource for society, to take advantage of the experience they have acquired over time and to improve it with training.
The significant demographic changes over the last decade inevitably have had an impact on work. The population has changed not only in quantity, with an increase in the number of residents, but, more significantly, the family structure and social relationships have changed.
Italy is one of the oldest Countries in Europe, the share of old people has increased over the years and the demographic forecasts indicate a further increase. In Veneto the number of over 65 year olds is over 982 thousand, about 20% of the population, and from here in twenty years it will increase even more (+45%) until arriving in 2030 at over a quarter of the population.
The progressive aging of the population should above all lengthen the average life span, due to the better life conditions achieved and the continual progress in medicine: in Veneto women live on average up to 85 years old, where men until 79.6 years old, however over time the gap between genders gradually reduces.
Life expectance for women is even greater, even though from 2000 to 2010 a greater gain in life years was observed for men. The differences observed between men and women are reversed in terms of quality of the years lived: in 2005, although women live on average six years more than men, they have an average of 8.5 years more of living in poor health (33.2 years compared to 24.7 of men). (Table 3.3.1)
In Italy, as a consequence, a particularly complex interweaving was observed between the demographic situation and the labour market. The combination of increasing longevity and lower birth rates leads to a worsening in the relationship of dependency: the working age population decreases and consequently decreases the supply of potential work and economic growth, producing significant effects even on the health and social plan of the Country.
The aging of the population is therefore promising to be one of the main challenges that the European Union shall face in the coming years, and Italy especially, where the larger group of baby-boomers is approaching retirement age. If today there are 30 elderly out of every 100 persons of working age, in 2030 the share may rise to 40%. And even the replacement index of the active population, which is a demographic indicator used to measure the employment opportunities for the young arising from jobs vacated by those who are about to retire, suggests another criticality: in fact in 2010 in Veneto the replacement index reached 139% (130.3% in Italy), i.e. the percentage of people potentially leaving the labour market was almost 40% greater than that of people entering it; such a situation indicates the difficulty of Italy to keep its labour capacity constant.
Corresponding with the elevated aging of the population, there is a poor number of people who remain active while ageing and approaching the limits of the working age.
This, however, is not only an Italian phenomenon: for some time the European Governments have been engaged in the pursuit of increasing the age threshold of leaving work and to achieve a significant increase in the employment rate of older people. To this end, the Lisbon strategy fixed the objected of 50% for the unemployment rate of the 55-64 years old population before 2010. In 2010, this objective was reached by nine European Countries out of twenty seven, the first ones of which were Sweden (71%), Germany and Denmark (58%) and the United Kingdom (57%). Italia stops at 36.6% and Veneto at 35.4%. However, it is also worth highlighting the great strides made by all the European Countries, Italy included: the employment rate of the EU27, went from 37% in 2000 to 46% in 2010, Italy albeit starting from lower levels was able to grow 9 per cent (from 28% to 37%) and Veneto by 10 (from 25% to 35%). This is a growth which invests a lot on both men and women, but the levels of females are much lower, especially in Italy: in 2010 the distance between the data of Veneto and the average European data was over fifteen per cent. (Figure 3.3.1)
The emergency of aging and the crisis of recent years clearly show the necessity of a political action aimed at promoting a more prudent management of pension savings, by improving the sustainability of public finances in the long term whilst ensuring the adequacy of performance, extension of the working population and working period. A step in this direction has been the recent pension reform implemented by the Monti Government. In summary, the legislative measure aims at increasing the average pension age in the next ten years through a tightening of access conditions by age / contribution period and through the introduction of constraints on the amount required before the right to retire can be exercised.
For a better understanding of policies in place, it is essential to know also the point from which Italy and its regions start; to this end, the data relative to pensions and their benefits of the last decade were analysed, as well as the changes which have occurred over the last few years.

Pension, how much will it cost me?

In Veneto in 2009, retirement benefits were provided for a total expenditure of about 19,662 million euros, which represents 7.8% of the national share (253,609 million euros).
To be able to assess the trend of expenditure over time and compare it with the weight of the Italian regions, the Gross Domestic Product should be taken into account. Therefore, in 2009, Italy used 16.7% of the GDP for pensions (both social security and welfare), whilst Veneto stopped at 13.9%. The only percentage lower than that was recorded in Trentino Alto Adige (12.6%): this is definitely a positive result, since a greater part of wealth produced can be destined to other uses and services for citizens. At the opposite end is Liguria, where 21% of the GDP is destined for pensions, followed by Puglia and Umbria.
Compared to 2008, the share of pension expenditure out of the GDP has increased in all the Italian regions: in particular, Veneto recorded a growth above one per cent, in line with the national average. This was due partly to the effective increase in pension expenditure, but mostly to the contraction of the GDP.
Overall, the share of Gross Domestic Product destined for pensions has been growing over the whole decade: both in Italy and in Veneto, the minimum value was recorded in 2000 (Italy 14.6%, Veneto 11.7%) to then rise constantly, especially between 2008 and 2009. (Figure 3.3.2)
In line with the previous year, in 2009 1.8 million pensions were provided overall in Veneto. These were mainly disability and age pensions or survivors insurance (IVS), and in a small part welfare pensions (disability support, social and war pensions). The residual shares were indemnity pensions, or rather the pensions for accidents at work or occupational diseases, which further decreased during 2009.
Although the number of pensions has remained unchanged, the overall amount provided has grown five percentage points compared to 2008. In Veneto, the amount provided for IVS pensions increased significantly (+5.4%), where in Italy welfare pensions increased.
A first indication of the burden on the pension system is given by the rate of retirement, i.e. the percentage ratio between the number of pensions and the resident population: in Veneto in 2009 36.8 pensions were provided out of every 100 people, a value slightly lower than that recorded nationally (39.5). During the last few years, this ratio has remained quite stable, in Veneto going from a minimum value of 36.5 in 2000 to a maximum of 37.4 in 2006.

A sustainable pension system in Veneto

An individual may receive more than one pension, therefore it is essential to analyse not only the retirement benefits, but all the individual beneficiaries. In Veneto, in 2009, 1,293,133 people received some form of pension; by cross referencing this data with the number of pensions overall provided, we discover that on average an individual receives 1.4 pensions.
With regards, however, to the amounts of pension income, in 2009, 44% of the pensioners of Veneto received less than 1,000 euros a month, whereas 27% earned between 1,000 a and 1,500. The situation is very different between men and women: it should be noted that women represent 52% of pensioners, but receive only 42% of pension incomes. Furthermore, 7% of men are on less than 500 euros a month and 21% more than 2,000 euros, percentages which mirror those of women, of which in 7% of cases, earn more than 2,000 euros and 13% less than 500.
Over time, the average retirement incomes have increased, even if the gender differences rather than diminish, have grown more acute. The share of pensioners who earn more than 2,000 euros a month from 2001 to 2009 grew almost 14 per cent for men, whereas only 5% for women. Even within the range between 1,500 and 2,000 euros the distance increases: the advantage of men on women was 8 per cent in 2001 and 10% in 2009. (Table 3.3.2)
The number of pensioners strictly depends on the number of elderly residents; consequently, in order to compare different territories, the effect of the different demographic structure of the population should be eliminated by using the standardised coefficient of retirement. This indicator measures the number of pensioners per 1,000 inhabitants, by applying the same demographic structure to different populations (Note 3).
In 2009 in Veneto every 1,000 inhabitants there were 251 pensioners, while in the whole Italy pensioners were 253 per 1,000 inhabitants. In other Italian regions this value fluctuated between 265 in Emilia Romagna and 236 in Lazio. Veneto had therefore a good situation and ranked fourth among the regions with a low of number of pensioners, only preceded by Campania, Sicily and Lazio. In the last decade, the situation has improved: in Italy, it went from 277 pensioners out of 1,000 inhabitants to 253 and in Veneto 276 to 251. (Figure 3.3.3)
The standardised coefficient of retirement can be also applied to analyse the weight of the various types of pension. In Veneto in 2009, out of 1000 residents 193 benefited from a old age pensions, 65 from indirect survivor pensions, 30 from civil disability pensions, 13 have received some form of indemnity pensions and 12 were assigned disability welfare support. Once again Italy is divided: on one side the Southern regions with the highest share of disability pensions, on the other, the North with the majority of people leaving the labour market due to age.
It should be stressed that the amount of disability pensions is decisively lower than that of age pensions; in fact, compared to an average age pension of 1,256 euros a month, 638 euros are received for a disability pension.
Over the years, the differences have been accentuated: only to name a few, in Basilicata the percentage of disability pensions in 2009 was equal to 49 per thousand, the highest value among all the regions, but in 2004 it reached 74 per thousand. In general, a uniform growth can be seen among the regions: the disability pensions decrease in all regions, whereas age pensions decrease in the Northern regions and increase in the South. (Figure 3.3.4)
The burden on the pension system can be observed also through the ratio of dependence which measures the number of pensioners per 100 employees. From a regional comparison, it emerges that Veneto has a system which is certainly more sustainable than the others: 100 employees should, in fact, sustain 61 pensioners against 71 on average in Italy. A better performance is observed only in Trentino Alto Adige, with 57 pensioners per 100 employees, where as the most critical situation is recorded in the South, where the indicator often exceeds 80% (Campania 87%, Molise 84%).
The burden that the employed must bear to feed the pension system has however declined over the years: in Veneto the ratio of dependence fell from 67% in 1997, to 65% in 2000, until arriving at 60% in 2008. In the past year however, it began to rise again by one per cent in Veneto as in Italy, with peaks of 3 and a half per cent in the Abruzzi and in Campania. These variations were mainly due to the trend of employed constantly growing until 2008, to then diminish in 2009 following the economic crisis. (Figure 3.3.5)

Pensions and living costs

In Italy, about 80% of pensions are paid out by INPS (National Social Security Institute), next to 11% provided by INPDAP (National Social Security Institute for Civil Servants) and 4% from INAIL (National Worker's Compensation Authority). In this paragraph only data from INPS are included, which are more systematically updated and represent the majority of the pensions disbursed. This data has allowed to reconstruct the historical series of pensions and their average amounts from 2001 to 2011.
The number of pensions increased over the decade, but the growth rate slowed down: in Italy a variation of 12% between 2001 and 2001 was signalled, a value which rapidly diminished until recording a variation of almost zero between 2010 and 2011. In our region the progress is the same, with a slightly positive variation in the last year (+0,4%).
Even the average amount of pensions increase over time: in Veneto, the average pension was enhanced by about 210 euros, going from 560 in 2001, to 770 in 2011. Only age pensions rose by 300 Euro and in 2011 almost reached the thousands.
It is interesting to study these variations in relation to living costs. Starting from 2001, the average amount of pensions increased quicker than prices, with a consequent increase in the average purchasing power of pensioners, a phenomenon which was evident both nationally and in Veneto: in Veneto, in a decade prices grow by 22%, where pensions by 38% (age pensions 45%). By looking at the annual variations, the link between pensions and prices clearly emerges: to the inflation peaks, the successive year corresponds a more sustainable increase of pensions; in particular, changes were observed between 2008 and 2009: in 2008 inflation signalled a record growth of 3.3 per cent, which in 2009 was followed by a sharp rise of the average amount of pensions. Similar to the trends seen in 2006 and 2010. The same relationship does not note, however, with regards to the average salary, that developments very different from inflation followed, at the expense of the workers: in the last year, wages grew less than prices, with a loss of purchasing power per people in the labour market.
Still considering the changes which occurred in the last decade, in Veneto the signs were positive; while the average amount of age pensions remained constantly below the Italian average, over time the gap decreased: a more sustained increase of pensions is in fact seen, flanked by smaller increase in inflation
Moreover, Veneto is distinguished for a better redistribution of retirement income: through the Gini coefficient (Note 4), INPS calculated inequalities present in each local area; Veneto ranked fourth among the regions where the income inequalities are less strong, only preceded by Emilia Romagna, Umbria and Piedmont. The highest values of inequality were seen in Lazio.
Furthermore, the number of pensions and the average amounts, in the last ten years has modified the structure of the age of the recipients of retirement benefits: between those who receive a age pension in Veneto, the average age grew by around 2 and a half years for men (from 68.6 years in 2001 to 71.3 in 2011) and about two years for women (71.7 to 73.7), compared to an increase in life expectancy of 2.3 years for the men and 1.4 for women. (Figure 3.3.6)