To support economic development and employment, the State should encourage reshoring by Italian companies that have relocated abroad, define a minimum wage and discourage fixed-term contracts. These are some of the indications that emerge from a survey conducted on a sample of a thousand people, representative of the Italian population. The survey was born from the cooperation between the Legacoop Observatory and the Ipsos research company. The interviews were carried out in December 2021.
Reshoring goal
When asked to comment on what actions the State should take to support development and work, 46% of those interviewed indicated the need to encourage Italian companies that have relocated abroad to return to produce in Italy (50% in the middle class and between the categories of executives, employees and teachers). In second place, with 40% of the votes, the need to define a minimum salary (51% in the working class and among the unemployed looking for their first job), followed, with 31%, by the recommendation to discourage fixed-term contracts (36% among students and 35% in the north-east). In fourth place, a reference to the theme of active policies, indicating the need to facilitate the transition from work to work (23%).
Work is a central element, in its various meanings
And that work, moreover, continues to represent a central element in the life of Italians is also testified by the degree of consensus recorded by some statements proposed in the survey. Thus, 58% of respondents (73% among students) agree strongly on the definition of work as a source of income, 44% (59% among students) as a way to affirm their independence , 39% (50% among students) as an opportunity for personal growth, 38% (47% among freelancers, self-employed and entrepreneurs). “Work is still the primary concern of Italians and Italians, for themselves and for their loved ones – underlines Mauro Lusetti, president of Legacoop – We have clearly seen it during this crisis: beyond, and perhaps more, health concerns, people were afraid of losing their jobs, of not being able to to find another, from seeing their skills and salaries, and therefore their certainties, lost. Now, when the recovery seems to be underway, some structural defects in the Italian world of work are very evident. It is essential that this issue is put at the top of the agenda. It is not only a question of consolidating active labor policies, but also of reforming the social safety nets without undermining the competitive capacity of some sectors ».
But why is work so important?
The survey also emphasized what Italians consider to be the most important aspects of a job deemed ideal. In the first place, ex aequo, the economic treatment (from 45% of the interviewees, which rises to 52% among middle managers, teachers and employees and to 50% in central Italy and the working class) and stability of the job (45%, rising to 63% among the unemployed looking for their first job). In third place the availability of free time and flexible hours (28%, rising to 41% among the unemployed looking for work and 40% in the working class), followed by work as training opportunity, learning and growth (24%) and, in fifth position, by autonomy and independence (22%, which rises to 36% among freelancers, self-employed and entrepreneurs).