Italy: government working on ‘active policies’ as intended by the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan)

Over the 5 years spanning 2021-2025, Italy plans to spend €4.9 billion on a range of ‘active policies’, which should concern 3 million people, 75% of whom are women, the long-term unemployed, disabled, the under 30s, and workers over 55. Thus the main direction for the GOL (Guarantee workers Employability) and PNC (National Skills Plan) programs, as presented to the social partners on 08 September by the government’s Labour Minister, Andrea Orlando. At least 800,000 beneficiaries can expect to receive training, including 300,000 who will strengthen their digital skills. Five types of pathways are planned for people currently excluded from the labour market including: ‘re-entry to the world of work’, which responds mainly to the need for careers direction and intermediation; ‘updating’, which targets workers who need short-term training (upskilling); ‘requalification’, which is geared to those who need to redefine their professional profiles (reskilling); ‘work and inclusion’, which caters for complex situations extending beyond the professional framework and which need to mobilize social services; and finally, ‘collective reclassification’, which focuses on workers in crisis-hit companies. The GOL program, which should start this autumn, will be definitively approved after being given the green light at the State-Regions Conference, since it is the regions in Italy that have the key competencies in training and employment.