Migrants, boom of fake contracts in irregular labour controls
Carabinieri inspections grow: +172% of non-compliant employees discovered in 2024. Fines rise to 29.7 million (+68%)
3' min read
3' min read
An invisible Italy holds up whole chunks of the economy. Endless hours, minimal wages, often without a contract. It is the country of undant labour and false hiring, where safety is a formal compliance and exploitation an unwritten rule. On the front line are also the foreign workers: many have arrived by paying a visa that promises a job, but that often does not even translate into stability but only into jobs, most often without rights.
Let's go in order. Over the past year, the Carabinieri for Labour Protection have raised the bar: more inspections, more companies reached, more irregularities unmasked.
Inspections
.In 2024, the perimeter of the inspections expanded (17,211 companies inspected, +1.9% over 2023) and, above all, the number of people affected by the inspections increased.
The number of workers checked rose to 64,356, +42.1% compared to 45,294 the previous year. Within this perimeter, the clearest dynamic was recorded: the number ofirregular workers rose from 5,924 to 16,116 (+172.1%), while undeclared workers increased to a much lesser extent, from 6,565 to 6,801 (+3.6%). This is a clear signal: it is not just pure undeclared work, but also formally regular relationships that, in fact, violate schedules, tasks and wages.
The tightening also has effects on the sanctioning action. The suspensions of entrepreneurial activities reach 4,198 (+66.3%) and with them the total amount of sanctions related to these measures increases: from 6.73 to 13.75 million euro (+104.2%). At the same time, administrative penalties increased from 17.64 to 29.73 million (+68.5%).
