Is the decline in female employment unstoppable, does the PNRR reverse course?
Alessandra Servidori's post
The report published by the Ministry of Labor on 9 June shows that in the first quarter of 2021, the activations of employment contracts, calculated net of permanent transformations, amounted to 2 million and 293 thousand, down by 12.2 % compared to the same quarter of the previous year (equal to 319 thousand fewer contracts), and concerned about 1 million and 813 thousand workers, down by 12.0%, equal to -247 thousand people. Considering also the transformations for an indefinite period, equal to 127 thousand, the total number of activations of employment contracts reaches 2 million and 420 thousand, down by 12.5% (equal to 347 thousand activations less), compared to the corresponding period of 2020.
The most significant trend reduction in relative terms is observed for the female component (-14.7%, compared to -10.9% for the male component) and in the Northern regions (-15.2%).
Activations in Industry in the strict sense, which represent 10.3% of the total, show a tendential decrease of -8.8% in the first quarter of 2021, which mainly affects women (-13.2%, while for men is -6.9%). The tendential decline in employed workers, net of transformations, is determined by the effect of a decrease among men, equal to -123 thousand units, and a greater decrease among women, equal to -124 thousand units), and it is possible to observe a more evident negative percentage variation for individuals aged up to 24 years (-13.4% for men and -21.5% for women). In the quarter in question, 1 million 593 thousand terminations of employment contracts were recorded, with a significant decrease of 23.4% (-486 thousand units) compared to the same quarter of 2020, which involves the female component to a greater extent (- 24.0%) compared to men (-22.9%). Services, in which 73.9% of terminated relationships are concentrated (88.8% when the employment relationship involves women), represents the sector most affected by the reduction in terminations. In the first quarter of 2021, 1 million 178 thousand relationships were recorded in the Services sector, down by 420 thousand, equal to -26.3%.
At this point it is legitimate to ask how the NRR will materialize and its impact for Italian women.
The Pnrr says it aims to encourage female employment through investments to enhance the offer of nursery schools and services for the care of the elderly and the handicapped. This confirms that in order to increase female employment, the priority measures concern care work, which is mainly carried out by women.
For the care of the disabled and people in difficulty in Mission 5 "Inclusion and cohesion", the NRP allocates a total of one billion to two separate investments, while Mission 6 "Health" dedicates 4 billion to home care and support for the elderly. of Euro. An adequate development of nurseries (today public spending in this field is only 0.08 per cent of GDP, among the lowest in Europe) represents one of the most important tools for supporting the work of women in the crucial years of motherhood and to support a declining birth rate.
According to data and estimates, to guarantee a place in the nursery for one out of three children, with fees comparable to those of the kindergarten, 4.8 billion should be invested and then about 4 billion a year should be spent on the management of the service. . A greater initial effort would pay for itself over time with a virtuous circle. In fact, new jobs would be created (educators, services, and more) with a consequent increase in tax revenues and a growth in consumption, which would lead to an increase in GDP.
If the percentage of women in work reached 60 percent, GDP would grow by 7 percentage points, according to the estimates of the Bank of Italy. Among other things, a greater supply of nurseries would help and encourage families to have children and would increase the cognitive capital of children with effects on school results in the following years and then in the labor market. It is true that a multiplicity of interventions in various areas are needed to effectively reduce the gender gap and to make the effort, parental leave and a tax system will be necessary that does not penalize the work of the "second" worker in the family. For parental leave today the possibilities are those provided for by the rules standardized to the EU Directives and there are no conditions for increasing them but it is suggested to use the instrument of bilateral funds in proximity bargaining to expand their use for access to further permits financed through the funds (Interconfederal agreement on the governance of bilateralism Confcommercio cgil / cisl / uil 20 February 2014) which now support training and could intervene and support in a logic of subsidiarity and therefore of income support for the worker who must be absent from work for parental leave. The measures seem to be designed on a thin thread that runs between the contrast and the confirmation of the culturally consolidated pattern by which the woman, and only her, is entrusted with the care. The conditions must be created to distribute the care loads: it is a question of building collaborative governance and prefiguring the impact on social cohesion.
In Mission 1 it will be necessary to indicate specific investments for female employment, that is, to be supported to bring their talents to digital transformation projects, bringing their specific skills to the industrial and economic system.
In 2020 there were 12,068 innovative startups, fundamental for the digital innovation of our country. Innovative startups led by women only 1598, or 13.2%. It is necessary to explain and foresee how to support the birth and growth of innovative female digital startups. Dedicated to the digitization of the country, to which about 40 billion are destined, and to indicate specific measures on how to bring women closer to the technologies required by the jobs of the future. up-skilling and re-skilling of women of all age groups, to break down gender tech stereotypes and bring women closer to IT and TLC jobs.
To date, women represent only 16% of the tech workforce and there is therefore a serious problem of gender digital mismatch: there will be jobs, but women will not be able to apply because they will not be qualified. Women, therefore, risk remaining even more on the sidelines of the new jobs available. The EU's Gender Gap Index reveals how women are under-represented in new technologies and are not sufficiently present in the development of artificial intelligence, digital startups and high-tech products.
It is therefore necessary to encourage, with specific training tools, the presence of women in the development of these technological platforms. Women will be excluded from these new jobs, if there are no strategic national plans aimed at bringing women in all phases of work to tech subjects.The Plan speaks generically about training and instead invests in STEM skills only for high school students. Studies show that girls should approach these issues from primary school and that the choice of high school has already created a gender gap among girls. In very few technical studies will follow. The term STEM also needs to be explored. For years women have graduated more than men in mathematics, biology, science and medicine and the real problem to be solved are subjects such as computer science and engineering, exactly the subjects that are creating and shaping the world where women are underrepresented. . In this regard, we would like to point out that the Pnrr provides for the Conditionality Clause for companies: for example, in the STEM Disciplines, companies cannot find professional figures and skills, and new professionals.
Data to keep under control: for the companies that will participate in the projects financed by the NRP and the React-Eu and FCN funds, forecasts aimed at conditioning the execution of the projects to the hiring of young people and women.
But it won't be easy.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/il-declino-occupazione-femminile-italiano-e-inarrestabile-con-il-pnrr-si-inverte-la-rotta/ on Tue, 15 Jun 2021 07:47:10 +0000.