The decision of the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Maloney, to cancel the welfare program for income from citizenship and to introduce stricter allowances, coincided with the drop of unemployment to the lowest levels in two decades, including in southern Italy.
Italy reached a record of 24.36 million employed in the second quarter of 2026, an increase of 246,000 from the previous year. Unemployment fell to 6.3%, while the employment rate reached an all-time high of 63.4%.
In southern Italy, about 500,000 jobs were created between 2021 and 2024, with regional GDP growing by 8.5%, compared to 5.8% in central and northern Italy. Sicily's employment rate increased from 44.4% in 2020 to 51.4% in 2026. Maloney's reforms, introduced in 2023 and fully implemented in January 2024, replaced the previous welfare system with targeted assistance for vulnerable households and employment or training requirements for other eligible adults.