Istat: 246,000 more people in work in the second quarter compared with the same period last year

In the second quarter of 2026, the number of people in employment in Italia, adjusted for seasonal effects, rose to 24,363,000, an increase of 155,000 (+0.6 per cent) compared with the first quarter of 2026. This is according to Istat. The employment rate reached 63.1 per cent (+0.4 percentage points over three months), the unemployment rate rose to 5.6 per cent (+0.1 percentage points) and the inactivity rate fell to 33.0 per cent (-0.5 percentage points). In year-on-year terms, the growth in the number of people in employment continued, at a faster rate than in the previous quarter (+246,000, +1.0% over one year).

From the employers’ perspective, in the second quarter of 2026, the number of salaried jobs showed positive growth on a quarterly basis (+0.3 per cent over three months), with a more modest increase in full-time positions (+0.2 per cent) compared with part-time positions (+0.5 per cent); the proportion of part-time workers stood at 28.9 per cent.

In year-on-year terms, the number of jobs rose by 1.3 per cent, driven by similar growth in both full-time and part-time employment. The trend in temporary agency work is particularly positive, with a 2.0 per cent increase compared with the previous quarter and a 3.0 per cent increase year-on-year. Intermittent work continues to grow, albeit at a more moderate pace than in the first quarter of 2026, both quarter-on-quarter (+1.3%) and year-on-year (+6.7%); the number of hours worked per employee also rose on a quarter-on-quarter basis (+0.4%) and year-on-year (+0.7%). The use of the short-time working scheme fell by 0.6 hours per thousand hours worked compared with the second quarter of 2025, dropping to 6.2 hours. The vacancy rate stood at 1.5 per cent, down both compared with the previous quarter (-0.2 per cent) and year-on-year (-0.3 per cent).