Maria Teresa Bellucci (Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policies) spoke at the 15th edition of the Fair of Justice, during the panel entitled “Work, work, work”. mine), also Giovanni Russo (Head of Penitentiary Administration Department), Annamaria Furlan (PD Senator, former secretary general of CISL) and Bernardo Mattarella (Head of Invitalia).
Deputy Minister Bellucci said: “This Government has focused on work. The Constitution establishes that Italy is a democratic Republic based on work and we are committed to promoting it, especially among young people and women. We have reached and exceeded 62% employment and 53% for women, but we are concerned about the remaining 47% and will work towards this. As a Ministry we manage the national program “Youth, women and work”, which, thanks to an allocation of 5 billion, aims to insert them into the world of work. We have taken several measures to promote stable and permanent work, but also safety in the workplace. We have always taken sides against the minimum wage, because it is the result of a mentality according to which work must be at a distance from people’s lives and always at a low price, to the lowest terms. We, however, want to define it as a tool for self-realization, a foundational part of identity, necessary for the growth of the nation and to honor the individual.”
“Between now and 2028 we will need around 4 million workers, so the issue today is to find people to fill these positions. We have a skills problem, so we have already started allocating money and will continue to do so. We are sure that production will only increase if we focus on new technologies in the right way.
NEETs find themselves living through an extraordinary time, in which everything has fallen apart in terms of relationships, also because of the pandemic. For them it is necessary to open up to the idea of a job that may not even be the dream at first, but which makes them able to build skills to start a path that can, step by step, the guide to achieve their own goal.”
“We have increased the sanctions for illegal work up to the point where we are introducing criminal sanctions. We have opened a register on gangmastering and increased the recruitment of staff investigators. We intervened to increase wages in different ways: by not increasing taxes and by affecting the cut in the tax bracket. For us, work is always work, whether you’re employed or self-employed. We will continue to hope to do better and better and we will do it in this fair way, keeping the state budget safe.”
“In addition to the baby bonus, the high contribution for mothers with dependent children has been confirmed, in addition to this we have structured some parts of the Single Allowance for dependent children and especially those that ‘ relating to disabled children. We have increased the Single Allowance for dependent children for the child within one year and the other children in the case of a large family. The Parliamentary Budget Office tells us that in the two years of government we have created direct benefits for families to encourage birth rates, allocating two and a half billion. So we have had a decisive impact on family balance and on the ability of mothers to be mothers, but also workers.”
