Istat: 50,000 more people in work in the first quarter compared with the same period last year

In the first quarter of the year the number of people in employment, which stood at 24,207,000, rose by 67,000 (+0.3%) compared with the fourth quarter of 2025, following an increase in fixed-term employees (+9,000, +0.3%) and, above all, self-employed workers (+72,000, +1.4%), and a slight decrease in permanent employees on permanent contracts (-13,000, -0.1%). This is indicated by Istat in its quarterly data. In the year-on-year comparison, the growth in the number of employed persons continues, ‘at a slower pace’ than in the previous quarter, (+50,000, +0.2%) continues, albeit at a slower pace than in the previous quarter, driven solely by the rise in the number of self-employed workers (+4.7% year-on-year) against a backdrop of falling numbers of employees, both on fixed-term contracts (-4.2%) and permanent contracts (-0.5%).

A review of the Istat tables reveals that the employment rate rose to 62.7% (+0.2 percentage points on the previous quarter) in the first quarter of the year, marking the highest level since the start of Istat’s quarterly time series (which began in 2004), whilst the unemployment rate, which fell to 5.3% (-0.4 percentage points compared to the previous quarter), is the lowest level since the start of the relevant historical series.The inactivity rate, which rose to 33.7% (+0.1 percentage points), is back at the same level as in the first quarter of 2023. In the provisional April figures, the employment rate rose to 63.1% and the unemployment rate fell to 5.1%.

In the first quarter of 2026, the trend continued, at a faster pace than in the previous quarter, with the number of jobseekers falling to 1,364,000 (-394,000 year-on-year, -22.4%); the unemployment rate fell to 5.4% (-1.5 percentage points), with a more pronounced decline among women, residents of the South and young people.

The fall in the number of unemployed applies both to those with previous work experience and to those seeking their first job; the decline mainly affects those who have been looking for work for at least 12 months, whose share of the total number of unemployed has fallen to 46.2% (-1.9 percentage points), amounting to a total of 630,000 people.

In the job search, the use of the informal channel continues to predominate, albeit at a lower level than in the first quarter of 2025: 72.0% of the unemployed turn to relatives, friends and acquaintances (-1.6 percentage points); followed, also down, by sending applications and CVs (67.5%, -4.0 percentage points), whilst the consultation of job vacancies is on the rise (57.0%, +0.7 percentage points). The proportion of those who replied to or placed advertisements (36.8%, -1.9 percentage points), attended interviews or selection processes (31.6% -0.3 percentage points), visited the Public Employment Service (30.6%, -4.0 percentage points) or took part in a public sector recruitment competition (9.5%, -0.8 percentage points); by contrast, the number of those who turned to private recruitment or temporary work agencies continued to rise (20.3%, +2.6 percentage points).