Although the majority strength in female employment during the crisis years, the share of women employed in Italy is still far below that of the EU rates and concentrated in services: in 2012 the female employment rate stands at 47.1 % vs. 58.6 % of the EU27 average.
In 2012, the rise of Italian women employment was due to the increase of the employment rate of women over 49 years (+6.8 %), which compensated the continuation of the strong reduction of the values for younger women. And reports show, in fact, how the increase in the supply of female labour is also the result of the new strategy to deal with family financial constraints imposed by the crisis. There has been a significant increase in female employment in those couples where the man is looking for a job or available for work (21.2 percent), or is laid off (+53.9 per cent).
On the other hand, in terms of features and quality of work, in 2012 phenomena of occupational segmentation and less human capital performance persist, compared to the male component. Since the crisis began, the rate of growth of female employment in unskilled occupations is more than double that of men (women’s employment increase 24.9 % in the period 2008-2012, men’s rate grew 10,4%) and more than triple in professions that affect businesses and services (+14.1% and +4.6%, respectively).
Such growth is limited mainly to the tertiary sectors including trade, hotels and catering and households services, where women represent almost all of the employed.
Moreover, it takes 51 professions to explain 50% of male employment, to give account of the female employment 18 professions are sufficient. Saleswomen, domestic workers and secretaries are the professions that include the most number of employed females (18%).
In this context, the deterioration of the general conditions of the labour market has intensified the phenomenon of gender segregation.
Compared to the performance of human capital, in 2012 the incidence of women over educated, or employed in professions for which the qualification required is lower than the one possessed continues to be about 3% higher than that of men (23,3% vs. 20.6%). The gender difference in the proportion of the overeducated is more pronounced and growing for those who possess a university degree.
Even in the case of atypical contract, the incidence of women remains higher: in the last two years, the transformation of atypical contracts in permanent jobs occurred much more frequently for men. Out of 100 women who had an atypical work in the first quarter of 2011, only 12 (compared to 20 men) succeeded a year later to move to a permanent job.
During 2012, the increase in female part-time employment is followed by the decrease in full-time contracts, continuing the trend of the past four years. Among women who work part-time, the proportion of women with a fixed term contract is higher: that is 603.000 employed, more than double than men and is increased by more than 11 points between only 2011 and 2012.
Development of low skills, occupational segregation and the increased presence in non-standard work are elements that explain the gender pay gap for women. On average, the net monthly salary of female employees is less than about 20% than men employees (in 2012, EUR 1,103 against EUR 1,396).
Moreover, women claim less benefits such as incentives or overtime. Their career is often marked by overeducation, by discontinuity due to motherhood, by salary gap that increases with age, especially for university graduates to which the average values the effect of “glass ceiling” is added.
Source: ISTAT 2012, Labour Force Survey
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