Toscana Notizie – Flash Lavoro n. 68/2026

THE OVERALL PICTURE

In the first quarter of 2026, labour demand in Tuscany showed a slight increase following the decline in 2025: new hires totalled around 210,000, up 0.5 per cent compared with the same quarter of 2025. The trend in salaried employment remains positive but moderate and is gradually slowing: in the first quarter of 2026, the number of employees rose by 1.1% compared with the same period the previous year, whilst the year-on-year increase for 2025–2024 was 1.8%. Permanent employment continues to hold up, albeit with a more modest change compared with the 2025 average (+2.0% versus +2.5%). The number of fixed-term employees fell by 2.8 per cent, in line with the decline in the fourth quarter of 2025 (-2.6 per cent); the overall change for the year had been -1.0 per cent. By macro-sector, in the first quarter of 2026, construction (+1.8 per cent) and the service sector (+1.3 per cent) grew, whilst manufacturing remained virtually stagnant (+0.4 per cent). Manufacturing remains affected by the difficulties facing the ‘Made in Italy’ sector, which fell both quarter-on-quarter (-1.5%) and year-on-year (2025–2024: -1.1%), with the fashion sector still contracting. In the service sector, tourism services continued to grow: +2.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 and +3.1 per cent year-on-year (2025–2024). The ISTAT Labour Force Survey shows, in the first quarter of 2026, a slight increase in total employment to 1,661,000 (+0.7 per cent) and an employment rate for those aged 15 to 64 at 70.0 per cent, almost at the same level as in the first quarter of 2025 (69.9 per cent). Unemployment has fallen year-on-year: there are 75,000 unemployed, 12.2 per cent fewer than in the first quarter of 2025, and the rate has fallen from 4.9 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

In-depth analysis
TOURISM AND EMPLOYMENT IN TUSCANY: GROWTH, WAGES AND INEQUALITIES

edited by Enrico Conti, Maria Luisa Maitino, Valentina Patacchini and Letizia Ravagli (IRPET)

This paper analyses the characteristics of the Tuscan labour market in the core sectors of the tourism industry, with a particular focus on wage trends, the prevalence of low-paid work and the employment traps that characterise the sector. Tuscany represents a case study of interest, as it is a region where tourism constitutes a structural component of the local economy, with a growing impact on overall employment and significant internal variation between coastal, urban, rural and mountainous areas. Based on an analysis of ISTAT data and administrative sources, the paper highlights how the growth in tourism recorded over the decade 2012–2022 has had contradictory effects on workers’ well-being, contributing to regional wage stagnation and fuelling widespread forms of in-work poverty. At the same time, the analysis highlights that the sector is not monolithic: productivity, wages and employment conditions vary significantly across sub-sectors and regions, making a disaggregated analysis necessary to fully grasp the policy implications.