THE RESULTS OF BOCCONI'S RESEARCH IN COLLABORATION WITH J.P. MORGAN, WHICH IS PART OF THE FIRM'S GLOBAL NEW SKILLS AT WORK INITIATIVE, HAVE BEEN PRESENTED TODAY. ITALIAN LABOR MARKET SUFFERS FROM A DIFFICULT SCHOOL TO WORK TRANSITION AND A MISMATCH BETWEEN EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND ACTUAL SKILLS

The Italian labor market records striking inequalities in terms of age, gender, geographical area and education. In 2015 the most advantaged profile (male, 40-44 years, living in the North, graduate) had 50.3% higher chances to be employed than the most disadvantaged profile (female, 20-24 years, living in the South, with middle school license at most). The most penalizing feature (the one that explains 56% of the gap) is, however, age, according to the results of the first year of Employment, Skills and Productivity in Italy, a three-year research project conducted by Bocconi University as a part of the wider J.P. Morgan Chase’s New Skills at Work project.
 
The findings have been presented this morning at a conference with the Undersecretary of State to the Italian Prime Minister, Tommaso Nannicini, as the keynote speaker. The President of the Italian National Agency for Active Labor Market Policies, Maurizio Del Conte, also participated in the following debate.
 
The three-year research project is part of J.P. Morgan's European program focused on addressing unemployment, improve labor market infrastructure and develop a skilled workforce capable of responding to current and future labor market demands. The program is an integral part of J.P. Morgan Chase's global, five year New Skills at Work initiative, originally announced in the USA in December 2013.  New Skills at Work remains the largest-ever private-sector effort aimed at supporting high quality vocational and technical training to help young people and adults get well-paying jobs in in-demand industries.
 
The data presented today suggest the need for policies aimed at young people. In Italy the school-to-work transition is particularly critical for two reasons: the mismatch between skills required by the labor market and skills learned in the classroom and the fact that the qualifications awarded by the school system are bad indicators of actual skills. As such, more emphasis is needed to ensure that qualifications match actual skill sets.
 
As a result of the mismatch, the 15-24 years old are 6.5% of the labor force, but 20.3% of the long-term unemployed, while the gap between youth and adult unemployment rates rose from 14% to 31% between 2007 and 2015.
 
While the percentage of Italians whose qualification and position don’t match is very high, the picture changes when analyzing skills instead of qualifications. 76% of the over-qualified and 79% of the under-qualified hold positions well-matched to their actual skills. The share of over-skilled (14%) and under-skilled (9%) is thus in line with the rest of the world.
 
Over-skilling, however, is higher among graduates (19.6%) and dramatically high (30%) among graduates in science, technology, engineering and math, because the Italian industrial system, concentrated in traditional sectors and with a prevalence of small businesses, seems to offer particularly poor jobs, which do not allow the use and maintenance of skills.
 
Guido Nola, Senior Country Officer of J.P. Morgan Italy, commented: “At J.P. Morgan, we are firmly committed to fostering economic opportunity and more widely shared prosperity in the communities we live and work in. Our commitment to data and analysis alongside Bocconi University allows us to better understand the issues facing Italy’s workforce, and partner with local organizations to implement programs that expand high quality vocation training to help reduce unemployment”.
 
“The partnership between J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation and Bocconi University is an excellent example of cooperation between academia and business, as it enables a team of outstanding scholars to study the relevant phenomenon of skill mismatch for three years, and to present the outcome of their research to policy-makers and practitioners”, said Bocconi’s Dean of the Faculty, Gianmario Verona.
 
The research team consists of Fabiano Schivardi, Jérôme Adda and Antonella Trigari, IGIER Bocconi, Paola Monti, Rodolfo Debenedetti Foundation, and Michele Pellizzari, University of Geneva.
 

New Skills at Work
The J.P. Morgan Chase New Skills at Work program, a $250 million global initiative launched in 2013, aims to identify strategies and support solutions that help improve labor market infrastructure and develop the skilled workforce globally. The initiative brings together leading policymakers, academics, business leaders, educators, training providers and nonprofits with the goal of connecting labor market policy with practice, supply with demand and employers with the workforce – all to strengthen the global economy and create economic opportunity for individuals. It is the largest private sector commitment to workforce development in the world.
 
About J. P. Morgan Chase
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) is a global leader in financial services, offering solutions to the world’s most important corporations, governments and institutions in more than 100 countries. The Firm and its Foundation give approximately $200 million annually to nonprofit organizations around the world and lead volunteer service activities for employees in local communities, utilizing its many resources, including access to capital, strength, global reach and expertise.  More information is available at  www.jpmorganchase.com