Italy sees record growth in female employment

Female employment has been steadily growing with the employment rate up by 6.4 points between 2008 and 2024, according to a report released by the National Council on the Economy and Labour (CNEL) and statistics bureau Istat.

The growth was mainly recorded among women over 50, up by 20 percentage points, while the increase between the age of 24 and 34 was only by 1.4 points, according to the survey 'Women's work amid obstacles and opportunities, CE Report quotes ANSA.

Overall, Istat said this week that a total of 10 million and 221,000 women were in work in January this year.

Meanwhile, the gap with Europe remains high with the employment rate of women in Italy below the EU average by 12.6 points, the lowest among the 27 member States, said the report.

Nearly one-fourth of women in employment presented at least one element of vulnerability, including a short-term contract or an involuntary part-time contract compared to 13.8% of men, according to the poll carried out by CNEL and Istat The most vulnerable were young female workers (38.7%), those residing in the South (31.2%), workers with a low level of education (31.7% of women with a middle school degree) and foreign workers (36.5%), per the report.