Useful measures but management remains difficult

Data recently provided by the Inps showed that the hiring incentives put in place by the Cohesion decree have served to support the labour market and push youth employment. It is, therefore, undoubtedly true that all measures that make it possible to reduce personnel costs are appreciated by companies, but the very success of these policies should provoke some reflections on the mechanisms that regulate the employment bonuses, in order to make their management even more efficient and to outline structural scenarios for companies.

The framework of employment benefits is made up of heterogeneous benefits, both in terms of recipients and with reference to conditions and durations. The practical result is that many of these bonuses - often due to too little funding - have spot durations, creating uncertainty among employers and hiccup implementation.

Then, the issue of the practicalities of the grounding of these measures should not be underestimated: from the normative forecast to the actual use of the discounts by companies, the time lapse is often too long. Considering the incentives of Dl Coesione, companies were not able to use them for a year at the earliest: in fact, Dl 60 was passed on 7 May 2024 while Inps provided the operating instructions with circulars 90 and 91 of 12 May 2025. In fact, the aid was applicable from June 2025 and the operators were forced to activate the procedures for the recovery of the shares of the benefits accrued in the meantime and not usable while waiting for the rules. The incentives for employers and workers under 35, employed in sustainable and innovative sectors, also introduced by the Cohesion Decree, also had to wait until November 2025 (Inps Circulars 147 and 148).

The same fate will befall companies in 2026 as well: the differentiated extensions of the benefits provided forby the Dl Milleproroghe, will entail the issuing of new instructions by Inps - as the structure of the incentives change - to allow not only to enjoy the bonuses on new hirings but also to apply them retroactively with reference to facilitated employment relationships activated on 1 January 2026.

What will be left for companies once these measures expire? For the hiring of women the standard version of the benefits under Law 92/2012 remains, while, for young people, the under-30 exemption of Law 205/2017 remains usable.