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According to a forecast from May 2025, the unemployment rate in Italy could reach 5.9 percent by the end of the year, 3.5 percentage points less than in 2021, when the COVID-19 outbreak had a disastrous impact on the labor market. The rate is then expected to remain stable in 2026.

Weak employment situation

Unemployment in Italy started increasing after the 2008 financial crisis and peaked at 12.7 percent in 2014. It mostly affected the young population. Similarly, the youth unemployment rate also increased significantly during the same period, reaching over 40 percent in 2014. Even if the figures decreased in the following years, in 2022 the rates were still particularly high in the southern regions. Indeed, the youth unemployment rate in the regions of Sicily and Campania stood at around 43 percent.

COVID-19 impact on the economy

The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak had a serious impact on Italy’s economy. In June 2020, most Italian respondents declared that the coronavirus pandemic had impacted or would impact their personal incomes in the future. In addition, the fear of losing the job due to the pandemic has been increasing in the country, with more than half of respondents worrying about this in July 2020.