Undeclared and illegal economy grows: +15.1 billion in 2023. Irregular work on the rise

In 2023, the value of the submerged and illegal economy (the so-called 'unobserved economy') grew by 15.1 billion, marking an increase of 7.5% compared to 2022 and reaching 217 billion. According to ISTAT surveys, the submerged economy (i.e. net of illegal activities) stands at just under 198 billion euro, an increase of 14.9 billion compared to the previous year. Its incidence on GDP is 9.2% in 2023. Illegal activities are close to 20 billion. The value of the submerged economy from under-reporting and illegal work rises to 185.3 billion (+14.5 billion on 2022).

In 2023, the number of irregular labour units was 3.132 million, an increase of more than 145 thousand units compared to 2022. The growth in value added related to the use of irregular labour in comparison to the previous year increased by 11.3%. The growth of the irregular employee component was 4.9%, the growth of the irregular self-employed component was 4.8%. The increase in irregular units was +105.8 and +39.5 thousand units, respectively.