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One year and ten months after its implementation, the citizen income did not achieve one of the two objectives for which it was designed: the activation of the labor market. The other objective, partially achieved, is the fight against poverty. The ambition to achieve both results was not satisfied: the data say so and especially some of the politicians who strongly supported this measure approved in mid-January 2019 by the first Conte government, formed thanks to an alliance between Movimento 5 Estrellas. and League. The self-criticism does not come from the League, now in opposition, but from Luigi Di Maio, Chancellor and political leader of the 5 Star Movement until January 2020.
Di Maio sent the Bed sheet a long speech in which he explained his “transversal plan for the Italy of the future”, which is a series of political proposals to relaunch the Italian economy after the emergence of the coronavirus. In the point entitled “Work and well-being,” Di Maio wrote that it is “appropriate at this stage to rethink some mechanisms by clearly separating tools to combat poverty from income support in the absence of employment. On more than one occasion, I have already reiterated the need to improve the citizen income tool, motivating recipients to carry out socially useful work. The most important words in this passage are “separate clearly.” They are important words because they undermine the original and “dual” objective of the income of citizenship, which has always been defined as “a measure of active labor policy and the fight against poverty”.
In recent months there have been other criticisms. At the end of September, in connection with the economic festival of Trento, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had said that Italy was “absolutely behind in the project of integration into the world of work”. On November 30, however, INPS President Pasquale Tridico said that he sees “citizen income as a means of sustaining income, fighting poverty, rather than active policies.”
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But limits on citizenship income are nothing new. In fact, already during the approval phase of the measure, many experts had warned that it would be necessary to reform the relationship between regions, municipalities, employment centers and ANPAL, which is the national agency for active employment policies. The biggest problems, in fact, arose due to the lack of coordination between these bodies. In short, it is not yet possible to understand “who-does-what”. The employment crisis, which has increased with the arrival of the coronavirus epidemic, has aggravated an already difficult situation.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Minister Luigi Di Maio during the presentation of the citizenship card (Fabio Cimaglia / LaPresse)
All numbers of citizenship income.
The citizenship income is an unemployment benefit designed for families with financial difficulties. It is not universal and perennial, but temporary, and is linked to the participation of the people who receive it in a way of labor insertion. As of April 2019, it is intended only for Italian citizens or those who have resided in Italy for at least 10 years. There are also economic parameters to receive financial support: the family unit must have an ISEE value of less than 9,360 euros. The ISEE is an indicator that determines the economic situation of a family: it includes not only the total annual income, but also the rents and the property.
The allowance is monthly and does not have a fixed amount: it depends on the number of family members, the ISEE, the additions to pay the rent. In any case, the minimum amount is 480 euros per year.
In early November, the INPS published the latest data showing how many people receive citizenship income throughout Italy. From April 2019 to October 2020, 2 million and 564 thousand applications were submitted.
Regarding the total number of applications submitted, 1 million and 541 thousand were accepted and 575 thousand were rejected. 447,000 applications are still under review. The measure financially supports 832 thousand families for a total of 2 million and 49 thousand people involved. The allowance has an average amount of 550 euros per month. The citizenship pension, on the other hand, is the version of the citizenship income for people over 67 years of age: it is received by 138 thousand families, for a total of 157 thousand people involved. In this case, the average amount of the check is less: 246 euros.
In the latest data update, the INPS also added a significant number, that is, how many people have completed the first disbursement period that lasts 18 months. Throughout Italy, 381 thousand applications are considered “finished”, but for 298 thousand the renewal has already been requested.
The geographical distribution is also interesting: 685 thousand applications were submitted by people living in the northern regions, 416 thousand in the center and 1 million 462 thousand in the south.
This map shows the percentage of people involved in the income of citizenship compared to the population residing in the individual provinces.
So far, 9,000 million and 702 million euros have been distributed among families. At the moment, the monthly peak of spending was reached in September 2020 with 674 million euros. In October, spending was reduced to 460 million euros due to the completion of the first 18-month disbursement cycle.
The problems are many
The problems of citizens’ income are many and almost all of them are related to the so-called “active employment policies”, that is to say, oriented towards finding work for the beneficiaries of the support measure. In fact, one year and ten months after the start of the citizenship income, it is still unclear how many people have actually found a job. Unlike the number of checks disbursed, published monthly by the INPS, there is no periodic report that explains how many contracts have been signed and of what type.
Some figures were released by Domenico Parisi, president of ANPAL, in audience with the Labor Commission of the Chamber, at the beginning of November. Parisi said that as of October 31, 352,000 people had had at least one employment relationship “after applying for citizenship income.” This is 25.7% of the total of 1 million and 369 thousand people required to sign the “Pact for work”, that is, people who can work and are not in a position to request the help of social services.
Still, as of October 31, however, it appears that active employment contracts were 192 thousand. For everyone else, therefore, the employment contract had already been terminated due to expiration or for other reasons. Only 15.4% of the beneficiaries signed a permanent contract, 4.1% a learning contract and 65% obtained a fixed-term contract. The other beneficiaries have had intermittent collaborations or contracts.
During the audience with the Labor commission, Parisi also gave some figures on the territorial distribution. In the province of Trento, 47.5% of those who signed the “pact for work” found work. The percentage drops to 35.8% in Veneto, 37% in Emilia-Romagna and 31.1% in Lombardy. In Calabria the percentage is 24.1%, 19.2% in Sicily and 19% in Campania.
These data, however, are very different from those cited in a document published by ANPAL itself in February 2020 and entitled “The advancement of Phase 2 of Citizen Income”. The report said that “as of February 10, 2020, the DRC beneficiaries who had an employment relationship after the approval of the application are 39,760”. So from February to October 31, 152,000 new labor contracts would have been signed. A gap that has raised some doubts.
Another unknown factor refers to the role of the navigators, that is, the new ANPAL employees hired to help the beneficiaries of the citizens’ income to find a job. There are three thousand in all of Italy. However, from the data it is not possible to know what the concrete results of their work are. The 352 thousand new labor relations declared by Parisi were signed “after the request for obtaining income from citizenship”: at the moment, therefore, it is not possible to understand how many contracts have been signed with the help of sailors and how many independently.
The work of those who find work, that is, of sailors, is another problem. ANPAL’s contract for 3,000 employees expires in April 2021 and it is not yet known whether the government will be able to find the money to renew it.
Citizenship income, the Navigator contest at the Rome Fair (ANPAL press office)
Among the many delays, one of the obligations derived from the income of the citizenship arrives later than the others. It is about joining the PUC, useful projects for the community: small voluntary tasks, such as maintaining public goods or cleaning parks and gardens. Those receiving support must work at least 8 hours a week, which can be increased to 16.
Useful projects for the community should be organized by the municipalities in collaboration with the employment centers and ANPAL. At the moment, however, few agreements have been signed by the administrations. The coronavirus epidemic has also caused further delays. No report has ever been published to explain when projects are useful to the community.
The controls
Since the beginning of the citizen income, the titles and articles that have found more space in the newspapers refer to the attempts of some beneficiaries to receive the subsidy without meeting the requirements. From a political and communication point of view, it is one of the most difficult problems for the government to manage. And it’s one of the many reasons that led Conte and Di Maio to talk about a review of the measure. According to the operational budget of the Guardia di Finanza, 709 people were denounced in 2019 for “undue perceptions of income by citizens.”
The last case was on November 19: the Agrigento Financial Police seized 19 “social cards”, belonging to “subjects subjected to arrest for criminal association of a mafia type, currently detained, as well as for association crimes directed at drug trafficking, robbery and other common crimes. “They received 110 thousand euros without having the right to do so. In fact, one of the requirements to access citizens’ income is not having received convictions for serious crimes.
On December 1, the Personal Data Protection Guarantor approved the essential information acquisition measures to carry out more precise controls. Thanks to this approval, many data can be verified: possession of real estate, registration of motor vehicles, admission to long-term public hospital structures, convictions or personal precautionary measures. Thus, attempts to improperly receive the check must be discovered earlier than before.
What happens now
Anything that has not worked runs the risk of compromising the future of citizens’ income as previously thought. The budget law provides for an allocation of four billion more over nine years. The citizens’ income budget, according to the first version of the maneuver, has increased by 196.3 million euros by 2021, and by 477 million euros per year from 2029.
During the hearing at the Budget Commission on November 23, the Minister of Economy, Roberto Gualtieri, said that “it will be necessary to integrate even more” the resources for the income of the citizens. Ultimately, if the growth of beneficiaries continues, the money allocated will not be enough.
As already explained, there is the political will to confirm the income of the citizens, but with some changes. At the moment, however, there are only statements and no operating hypotheses.
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