Italy: trust in social partners among population increases

The 32nd ‘Rapporto Italia’ from EURISPES (Institute of Political, Economic and Social Studies), published on 30 January and covering the main social trends in Italy, reveals a sizeable increase in trust towards trade unions in Italy. While less than 15% of Italians say that they trust in the country’s institutions generally, trust in trade unions was found to be 8.5 percentage points higher than last year. Some 46.4% of Italians say they trust trade unions, compared to 37.9% in 2019. The proportion is the highest recorded for 12 years, with a low of 17.2% being reached in 2012. The trend is similar for business organisations, which since 2010 have recorded higher trust scores than trade unions. Employer groups have the trust of 49.4% of Italians in 2020 (up from 43.2% in 2019), marking the highest score for 12 years. Like trade unions, the lowest score (20.9%) for employer organisations was recorded in 2012. Meanwhile the EURISPES study also finds that the trust of Italians in social partners is far higher than trust in the government (26.3% in 2020), political parties (26.6%) and local authorities (34.3%).