On the one hand, economic growth is lower. The lack of jobs for women is reflected in the fact that the unemployment rate of women is more than double that of men, while youth unemployment more than 4 times that for those of 25 and over, is reflecting an inadequate rate of new job creation. Although in the past economic growth failed to translate into increased employment, there is clear evidence of change in more recent years, partly as a result of macroeconomic stabilisation - helped from 1987 onwards by a series of national wage agreements. Considerable innovation in active labour market policy in recent years, supported by the Structural Funds, shows signs of helping the long-term unemployed get back into work, though it remains to be seen whether employment growth will spread across the country. Regions in the South of Italy are undergoing restructuring, as many of the large firms, as well as the public sector, reorganise and rationalise.
Small firms are, at present, the main source of job creation.
This, however, is probably as much a result of labour market problems as pressure from rationalisation. Exclusion is particularly high, unemployment of women is double that of men in many cases and activity rates of women are lower than anywhere else in the Union. This is a result of major restructuring and, especially, rationalisation of industry. Given the scale of the initial problem, the labour market seems to have coped relatively well and there are some positive signs. Hidden reserves of labour are, therefore, relatively small.