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Article

15 Jun 2020

Author:
The Economist (UK)

Italy: COVID-19 is hitting informal workers hardest

Hitting the poorest hardest: Italy’s informal workers fall back on charity, 6 June 2020

The pandemic may be petering out in Italy, which is now recording daily covid-19 deaths in only double figures. But the poverty crisis has only just begun in a country that is by one measure the most unequal in the euro zone...

At first glance, Italy is well placed. Furloughing, a novelty in a number of countries, has long been standard practice in Italy for companies in temporary difficulty... Many of the poorest in society can claim a “citizenship income” to top up their earnings or pensions. And the government has introduced numerous measures to deal specifically with the coronavirus crisis...

But in other ways Italy is acutely vulnerable. Its informal economy is vast, accounting for around 14% of total output. Those who work in it often have no claim to state welfare. The rest of the labour market depends heavily on short-term contracts. One of the categories most at risk in the current situation comprises workers whose contracts expired during lockdown. A large number of irregular immigrants are also vulnerable.