The Veneto region is investigating the phenomenon of working mothers resigning from their jobs

Looking instead at the subset identified in the data as resignations during the protected period (i.e. during the child’s first year of life), there were 4,600 such cases, of which 3,700 involved women. The profile of the female workers involved shows a concentration in the middle age and motherhood brackets (over a third are aged between 30 and 34). They are predominantly Italian women (85%), employed in the services sector (80 per cent, particularly in the tourism, retail and social care sectors), often on part-time contracts (around 40 per cent).

One of the key aspects of the report concerns what happens after someone resigns. The analysis shows that leaving a job is not necessarily permanent. In 15 per cent of cases, this involves a direct transition to a new job (with re-employment within a week of leaving), indicating a degree of routine labour market mobility. Around one-third of female workers return to work within six months and, looking at cohorts for which a longer time frame is available, the return rate approaches 80 per cent within five years.

Re-entry into the labour market, however, is neither automatic nor uniform. Older female workers show lower rates of re-entry, albeit these are gradually rising, whilst re-entry occurs predominantly in the services sector, which accounts for more than eight out of ten re-entries within two years. Fixed-term contracts remain the most common form of employment, but the proportion of returns on permanent contracts is rising (from 25 per cent in 2019 to 32 per cent in 2023). Part-time work also plays a significant role, accounting for 53 per cent of re-employment arrangements within two years.

The report also includes an in-depth analysis of access to public employment services. On average, around 70 per cent of female workers who resign during the protected period submit a declaration of immediate availability to a regional jobcentre, a necessary condition for accessing Naspi. For these women, an immediate return to work is less common, but over half are back in employment within two years. However, a significant proportion do not re-enter the regional labour market in the following two years.

The qualitative study suggests that the decision to resign is rarely entirely planned. More often, it develops after giving birth, when faced with the practical realities of returning to work: inflexible working hours, difficulties in finding childcare arrangements, a lack of family support, the refusal or ineffectiveness of part-time arrangements, and a corporate culture perceived as unwelcoming. In this context, the Naspi unemployment benefit appears more as a safety net that makes the decision less risky than as the main cause of resignations. However, there is no shortage of examples of good organisational practices implemented by companies: in these contexts, the rate of resignations by female workers during the protected period drops to zero.