Toscana Notizie – Flash Lavoro n. 65/2025

THE OVERVIEW

In Italy, in the second quarter of 2025, “labor input, measured by hours worked, increased by 0.2% compared to the previous quarter and by 1.7% compared to the second quarter of 2024. In the same period, GDP decreased by 0.1% in economic terms and grew by 0.4% in trend terms.”
In the first seven months of this year, as in 2024, the labor market in Tuscany was characterized by a decline in hiring: -14,000 compared to the same period last year, equal to -2.7%. In the second quarter of 2025, the number of new hires was almost in line with the figures for the same quarter of 2024, +0.5%, due to the result for April, the only positive change in the first seven months, as new hires in April 2024 were very low, equal to the lowest recorded for this month since 2017, excluding 2020 and 2021. The contraction in demand has led to a slowdown in the growth rate of salaried employment: 68,000 new jobs were created between January and July, compared to almost 72,000 in the same period in 2024 (-4.6%). However, the number of employees is still increasing, albeit at a slower rate: +1.4% in July 2025 (compared to +2.1% in the same month last year) and +1.6% in the second quarter (compared to +2.4% in the same period in 2024). The growth in permanent employment continues thanks to an increase in conversions, while apprenticeships and fixed-term contracts are declining. Among the sectors, manufacturing recorded the smallest increase and, within this sector, Made in Italy lost employees, with significant decreases in fashion-related manufacturing. The most significant increases were in the production of mechanical and electrical machinery and equipment, the food industry, and pharmaceuticals. In the service sector, tourism services are still on the rise, albeit at a slower pace than in the second quarter of 2024. The ISTAT Labor Force Survey describes an overall employment trend, including both self-employment and salaried employment, showing slight growth in the second quarter of 2024 (+1.1%), driven by female employment, while male employment is down slightly, probably due to difficulties in the industrial sectors. The unemployment rate stands at 4%, up slightly from 3.9% in the same period of 2024, due to an increase among men, from 3% to 3.9%, and a decrease among women, from 5% to 4.2%.

Focus
MORE WORK, BUT NOT THE SAME FOR EVERYONE: WAGES, QUALITY, AND SECTORAL POLARIZATION IN TUSCANY

By Donatella Marinari

Over the last ten years, the Tuscan labor market has experienced a phase of employment expansion, driven largely by private sector employment. However, despite growth in the number of jobs, wage dynamics remain highly heterogeneous, reflecting wide disparities between sectors of activity and types of contract. In this context, the administrative data provided by INPS (the Italian National Social Security Institute) represent a valuable source of information for analyzing the actual structure of wages. The Observatory on Private Sector Employees allows for an annual description of average wage levels with a high degree of sectoral disaggregation. In 2024, the average gross annual wage is around €23,000, but the data show that the average level varies significantly depending on the sector of activity, outlining a hierarchy, stable over time, between high-productivity sectors and labor-intensive sectors with low added value, which grew between 2014 and 2024. Almost 60% of employment growth during this period was driven by sectors with lower daily wages, calculated for full-time permanent contracts, and higher use of fixed-term and/or part-time contracts. These findings are set against a macroeconomic backdrop marked by significant inflation, which has placed the issue of wage purchasing power at the center of public debate. The aim of this note is to provide a summary of the main wage inequalities within private sector employment in Tuscany, based on information provided by INPS.