ABSTRACT
Introduction: The first two decades of the third millennium have been characterized by deep economic changes in various countries around the world with an inevitable impact on the job market. The aim of this study is to analyze the data of the last twenty years relating to employment in Italy, compared with European ones, to understand how the 2008 economic crisis affected employment in the following years and how the recent crisis, related to the COVID 19- pandemic emergency, may contribute further. Methods: The study analysed data related to the labor market in Italy and in the European Countries. The 2000-2019 period was analytically evaluated by comparing employment and unemployment rates, and contractual typology. The average annual percent changes (AAPC) of the trends were evaluated from join-point regression analysis. Results and discussion: From 2000 to 2019 the Italian population showed a substantial growth with an increase of +6.03%, almost due to the increase of foreign. The employment rate in Italy (age 15-64) has grown from 55.5% to 59.1% with three different trends: 2000-2007 (AAPC=+0.6%, p<0.001), 2007-2013 (AAPC= -1.4%, p<0.001) and 2013-2020 (AAPC =+1.5%, p=0.006). Yearly Italian occupation rates were lower than that observed in Europe (on average -7.57% with range -4.9% in 2004 and 10.2% in 2019). Conclusions: Our data suggest that the 2008 crisis and COVID-19 pandemic could have contributed to the impoverishment of Italy and other European Countries. These changes could have had a deep impact also in the health of the general population and workers, changing the work-related risk perspective.