Milan – When he turns fifteen, The Italian knows that on average he will have about 33 years of daily effort (32.9 to be exact) or attempts to find work.. Data Below the EU average, which is 36.9 years, Which puts Italy just ahead of Romania.

This is what the Eurostat tables for 2023 show based on an estimate of the number of years a person, currently aged 15, will spend in the country. She must be in the labor force (meaning she can be working as well as unemployed) during her lifetime.

However, there is an important clarification to be made regarding the Italian data. It concerns women in particular, who significantly lower our average.

Indeed, Eurostat notes gender differences in average working life in all countries. However, as in many other areas, there are strong gradients and overall The Nordic countries have a gender gap that is lower than the European average (4.3 years). In Lithuania and Estonia, there is a negative gender gap (women work 1.3 and 0.8 years longer than men, respectively). In Latvia and Finland, there is de facto parity (0.1 years for men). While in Italy the gap is larger (8.9 years) ahead of Romania, then Greece and Malta where it fluctuates around seven years.

In Italy, despite the seven-year extension that came into effect in 2000, women are estimated to work for “only” 28.3 years, the lowest value recorded by continental statistics. Under 28.5 years in Romania, then there is Greece at 30.6 years and then Croatia, Belgium, Poland, Bulgaria and Luxembourg which all remain under 34 years. In Sweden, the Netherlands, Estonia, Finland, Denmark, Lithuania and Portugal women work for over 38 years.