Welfare, Italia Forum 2022

The 2022 edition of the “Welfare, Italia” Think Tank Report was released today at the Spazio Field of Palazzo Brancaccio in Rome, supported by Unipol Gruppo with the collaboration of The European House - Ambrosetti and a scientific committee comprising Veronica De Romanis, Giuseppe Guzzetti, Walter Ricciardi and Stefano Scarpetta.

Welfare spending trends, ongoing demographic changes, the impact of inflation on the demand for social protection, weaknesses in the world of work, the medium-long term sustainability of the system, the role of private parties and social investments, the contribution of the Recovery and Resilience Plan and strategies at European level: these were just some of the issues up for debate at the annual Welfare Italia Forum event.

For over ten years, “Welfare, Italia” has functioned as a place for the analysis, examination and reflection on welfare matters, open to discussion among the main public and private stakeholders in the sector: decision-makers, national and local government representatives, social partners, banks and pension funds and aid funds and representatives of companies, workers, universities and the voluntary sector.

• Expected increase in welfare spending in 2022 (€615bn, +€18bn compared to 2021)
• Due to the impact of inflation, the number of families at risk of absolute poverty has increased by 300 thousand units
• The fall in birth rates continues; by 2035, there will be 2.5 million less people in Italy compared to 2020 (equal to 4.4 million people of working age) who will have to support an extra 3.6 million over-65s
• By 2050, the worst-case scenario predicts a 10.5 million drop in the population of our country
• By 2055, Italy will have lost €147bn if the people involved in the “brain drain” in 2020 do not come “home” during their working lives
• The Think Tank outlined 6 priorities of action:
  • Incorporate the issue of birth rates into the European social taxonomy
  • Promote measures aimed at supporting parenthood and increasing female employment
  • Reduce migration outflows and make the labour market more efficient, including for foreign citizens
  • Give value to the contribution of supplementary pensions
  • Encourage the expansion of the range of welfare services through contractual and corporate welfare solutions
  • Redefine Citizens’ Income as an instrument of social inclusion and reinforce the mechanisms for taking action to find jobs and work placements
• Welfare Italia Index 2022: clear split between the North, Centre and South in the responsiveness of the welfare system in the Italian Regions

Read the complete Press Release.