Italy

Operators in Italy’s non-ferrous metals markets are eager for their long-awaited summer holidays.

The domestic labour market saw little movement in May: on a monthly basis, the employment rate fell to 63% (-0.1 percentage points) and the unemployment rate to 5% (-0.1 percentage points), with the youth unemployment rate falling to 15.1%. The inactivity rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 33.6%. The decline in employment - amounting to 22,000 people - affected men, women, fixed-term employees and all age groups except those aged 50 and older.

The overall drop in the employment rate was driven solely by a decrease in fixed-term employees to 2.388 million, contrasting with growth among permanent employees to 16.588 million and the self-employed to 5.360 million. However, employment is growing on a year-on-year basis (+228,000 employed persons), driven by increases in permanent employees (+275,000) and the self-employed (+198,000). By comparison, there was a decline in fixed-term employees of 244,000.

On a quarterly basis, meanwhile, there was an increase of 119,000 employed persons (+0.5%).

The expansion of the permanent employee segment - which now accounts for over 68% of the total employed workforce and more than 88% of all employees - signals that businesses are continuing to view the future with optimism. The growth in the self-employed segment also serves as a positive sign and an indicator of confidence.

Istat has reported that, in June, the national consumer price index for the entire population showed zero monthly change and a 3% year-on-year increase (down from +3.2% the previous month). According to the statistical institute, inflation trends were primarily influenced by the dynamics of transport-related services which slowed from +1.7% to +1.1%, whereas prices for energy products accelerated - both regulated (from +5.6% to +9.3%) and unregulated (from +12.5% ​​to +12.9%). Core inflation fell from 1.7% to 1.6%, while inflation excluding energy products dropped from 2.1% to 2%. The carry-over inflation rate for 2026 stood at +2.6% for the general index.

Italy’s public debt decreased in April. The Bank of Italy reported that, by the end of the period, debt had fallen to Euro 3,155.3 billion from Euro 3,158.2 billion at the start of the month, marking a monthly decline of approximately Euro 2.9 billion.

Finally, it is worth noting that electricity prices in Italy are the highest in Europe. The national single electricity price is Euro 115.9 per megawatt-hour (+7% compared to 2024) - the highest among major European exchanges, according to the president of ARERA, the public agency for energy, water and waste. Prices for businesses are 24% higher than the EU average. Italian prices remain structurally higher than those in France (Euro 61.1 per MWh) and Spain (Euro 65.3 per MWh) owing to a heavy reliance on gas-fired generation.