Employment: the inactivity rate rises again, reaching 33.6 per cent
At the same time, as the labour force shrinks (those who are economically inactive are not looking for work), both the employment rate and the unemployment rate fall
Key points
Against a backdrop of falling employment and unemployment rates, the less encouraging news emerging from the latest Istat labour market figures for May concerns the economically inactive population. Their share, in this case, is on the rise, standing at 33.6 per cent – 0.6 per cent higher than a year earlier.
The number of economically inactive people under 50 is rising
Compared with May 2025, the number of economically inactive people aged between 15 and 64 has risen by 190,000 (+1.5%), and this increase applies to all age groups with one exception: the 50–64 age group, where the rate has fallen by 0.7 percentage points.
The rate is close to 80% among under-25s
It is amongst the youngest age groups that the rise is most pronounced: the inactivity rate for 15–24-year-olds has risen to 79.8 per cent, up 3.0 percentage points year-on-year, whilst amongst 35–49-year-olds the year-on-year increase is 0.7 percentage points. On a monthly basis, the trend continues, with 59,000 more people not in employment or education or training (+0.5 per cent) and only one decline, among 25–34-year-olds.
Unemployment at 5%
Consequently, when it comes to unemployment, the year-on-year comparison paints a very different picture: there are 399,000 fewer jobseekers than in May 2025, and the rate has fallen to 5.0 per cent.
The most striking figure relates to young people: unemployment amongst 15–24-year-olds fell by 7.2 percentage points year-on-year, to 15.1 per cent. On a month-on-month basis, the decline was more modest but still evident (-22,000 people, -0.1 percentage points).
