Italy’s labour market remained broadly stable in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to Istat, the country’s statistics body, with employment showing slight growth and unemployment continuing to decline.
On a year-on-year basis, i.e. compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, the labour input, as measured by hours worked, was up 1.6%.
In Q4 2025, the total number of employed individuals reached 24.1 million in Italy, up by 37,000 compared to the previous quarter, driven by increases in permanent employees (+76,000) and self-employed workers (+21,000).
Temporary employment fell by 60,000 (-2.4%), partially offsetting the gains in other categories. Overall, the employment rate for individuals aged 15–64 remained steady at 62.5%, while the unemployment rate declined to 5.6%, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous quarter. The inactivity rate rose slightly to 33.7%.
Year-on-year growth
Compared to Q4 2024, employment increased by 89,000 (+0.4%), with permanent and self-employed positions driving growth, while temporary jobs fell sharply (-8.6%), Istat noted.
Unemployment dropped significantly by 138,000 (-8.9% over the year), and inactivity among working-age adults rose by 49,000 (+0.4%). These shifts pushed the employment rate up marginally to 62.4%, and the unemployment rate down to 5.5%.
Job growth was observed across enterprise types, with total positions rising by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter. Part-time work grew slightly faster (+0.5%) than full-time (+0.3%), accounting for 28.9% of total jobs. Temporary and on-call positions increased, particularly on-call roles, which rose 5.7% annually. Average hours worked per person declined slightly compared to the previous quarter (-0.5%) but increased relative to Q4 2024 (+0.5%).
The use of short-time working allowances fell to 7.8 hours per 1,000 hours worked, down 1.7 hours from the same quarter in 2024.
Elsewhere, the job vacancy rate stood at 1.9%, up slightly from the previous quarter but lower than a year earlier. Labour costs continued to grow, rising 0.3% quarter-on-quarter and 2.9% year-on-year, driven by higher wages (+2.5%) and social security contributions (+4.2%).
Annual average
As Istat noted, looking at the 2025 annual average, Italy saw an overall increase of 185,000 employed individuals (+0.8%), alongside reductions in unemployment (-88,000) and inactivity (-58,000). Employment and labour input continued to rise, though at a slower pace than in 2024, with temporary layoffs decreasing and overtime slightly increasing.
The average vacancy rate fell to 1.8%, while total labour costs rose 3.6%, reflecting new National Contract renewals and reduced reliefs on social contributions, Istat added. Read more here.
