Europe and Unemployment: ITALY

The Italian situation is quite bad and getting worst following the current global economic crisis.

The rate for 2010 (March) is quite high: the 27,7 % of young people aged between 15-24 years old does not have a job. Besides, the rate increased + 2,9% from one year before.

In addition, the inactivity rate is one of the highest within the Euro Zone: in Italy it is about 37,6%, despite the European medium rate of 28,9%: pratically, it means that in Italy investements on youth and new generations are less than in other countries and development measures are still not enough for the unemplyment situation.

Causes & Origins of the problems:

-          Lack of networking of municipalities, regions, and NGOs;

-          No support for NGOs that, in the present, are the only source and social energy of the country;

-          No real interest of the policy on the real problems of the society: the Parliament is only trying to solve the debt, without thinking about development measures;

-          Too much burocracy: the Southern Regions, where unemployment rates are higher, receive too late the European money for deveopment;

-          Lack of working experience during and after school education;

-          Different conception of volunteering: it should be an occasion for learning something (by doing. In reality, it’s only a way for hiring volunteers for free in places where the Governemnt does not pay for support;

-          Births are lowering and old people live more, with huge problems on old people taht retire too late, not leaving their job to new generations.

Our solutions:

-         To use better (or at least, to use) the European Funds for less developed regions: like in Apulia, the Region could give new opportunities to youngsters to improve themselves, to get involved and to express their skills outside the school. E.g. the program “Principi Attivi” gave opportunity to young people to develop and to invent new jobs and give them the opportunity to spread the money on the territory;

-          To give more working opportunities to students (real stages);

-          To improve and increase the concept of mobility (for learning a new language: italians do not know other languages);

-          To give more opportunities, less burocracy to NGOs;

-          To reformulate the idea of volunteering and youth working in a new, european way: now it means only that volunteers work for free, not that thay work on what they voluntarly chose.