Something Terrible Is Happening in Italy

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Having tried living and working in Italy during the 80s I encountered many stonewalls that prevented my upwards professional ambition. Primarily, Italy is not a meritocracy. Nepotism rules. Even to be considered for a mundane job like service station attendant or Night Porter you had to be well connected. Once in employment, pay rates as well as pay dates were "flexible". Companies adhere solidly to a hierarchical culture. One cannot question or cast doubt as to a senior colleague's decision or action. Showing initiative is deemed dangerous by your colleagues and immediate superiors. So it's little wonder that young graduates opt to move to another country or seek a cushy position in state employment. The state bureaucracy is to put it mildly, glacial.

I’m young and moved to Italy in a skilled worker program (rientri di cervelli) just to find out that I couldn’t find a place more youth-unfriendly possible. It is like the country holds pride in stopping in time. I had to send a written letter by mail to cancel my internet service. This is the level of bureaucracy they hold for everything.

Some of us (Italians) don't even understand our internal problems, but you did a great job from a macro prespective. It's worth subscribing to your Channel.

I am from Italy, now living in continental Europe. My experience is that prices are comparable, salaries are at least twice as high where I live. Most of my contacts still there barely survive with what they get from a full time job. Here, you can have opportunities as a young person. Responsibilities, consideration. In Italy, young people are exploited and feared. The old guard won't let you innovate, make mistakes, learn. They won't be challenged. If the population is old, Italian voters are even older. From politics to economics, from industries to families, all the power in society is in the hands of previous generations who don't really care about a future they will not see. I went away from Italy because there is no intention of building a better future for the country, no long term investment, no hope. Everyone just takes what they can before the whole country collapses.

I lived in Germany for a year. So many of the friends I made were Italian. I heard on and on about how they make more money, are treated better, and are generally happier in Germany than in Italy, bureaucracy aside. One of my closer friends told me how she never wants to go back because there is nothing left for her in Italy. If that's not heartbreaking, I don't know what is.

I‘m currently in my last year of university here in Milan, and I think the fact that Italy continues to lose its graduates is a big issue but I don’t see it getting fixed anytime soon. For example, my boyfriend studied as a programming engineer but did not end up taking a job in Milan because the pay is so low, he wouldn’t even be able to pay the monthly rent on a one bedroom apartment in Milan, however in Switzerland (Ticino) he makes 4x more than he would have in Milan and his rent is actually LESS than a similar apartment in Milan. Now that I’m looking for internships, I’m looking more towards Switzerland as well since in Italy most internships are not paid while in Switzerland they are.

As an italian let me say thank you for this video. You reported properly the actual situation in the country. After graduated in college,many friends of mine and me moved to other european countries to have the chance to have a good life. Personally i tried to work in Milan but unfortunatelly the cost of living is too high compared to the wages. So,after six months i packed and moved to Ireland. I Hope so much the economy will recover in the next years but the low fertility rate and low productivity are not a good sign for the future

Trying to start a new business in Italy is incredibly difficult. The tax sytem is so complicated and riciculous, its no wonder that most business simply go into the grey market. I am a violin maker, which is the second oldest profession in Italy, and even a tiny little business with one employee really could not exist and expand if everything was done properly. Most small business simply move to another E.U country with a less barbaric tax system. etc. Its actually quite sad.

A cousin married an Italian woman and after speaking to her about work my mind was blown. She worked for her aunt, an office job, and hadn’t been paid for more than a year but said she could never speak to her aunt or anyone else at work about it. She lived with her parents so contributing to rent wasn’t expected. It blew my mind! She was just hoping one day soon they’ll start paying again.

As many other members have pointed out as a matter of fact Italy stopped growing AFTER they abandoned the automatic wage actualisation in the 80s, today Italian companies expect new graduates to work FOR FREE so the spiral is indeed real but it works exactly in the opposite way this video tries to prove. No actualisation-> poorer workers-> employers want to pay new generations less-> consumes tumble-> people cannot afford to have children-> geriatric society-> the few young people are paid even less-> no children at all. This is how a country dies.

I'm Italian and regarding technological backwardness, I can tell you that at the University of Milan (one of the largest and most famous in Italy), researchers work with machines operating on Windows 95 (I swear). Not to mention the public administration, where employees don't even know how to move a file to the trash or create new folders.

You forgot a KEY factor here which is Italy's really high tax rate compared to other countries even in the eurozone. This is why there's so much tax evasion, its not just culture but the fact that which such high taxes you can't even break even let alone make a profit. This is what Laffer's curve is all about, if taxes are too high people stop paying them, its that simple.

Just an example of the "advanced economy" in Italy. To get my parking place in an underground city parking lot next to my home I had to personally visit four different city offices, bringing photocopies of all my documents, and filling up manually paper forms. In other european countries you do all of this online with one click. The Italian City Hall does not even have a list of residents - you must bring them a photocopy of your Id card which THEY themselves issued. They are beyond hopeless.

Sounds a lot like Spain to me as well. A very developed economy with a high quality of living, but few possibilities for young people to work their way up to the top. Being a kid with well-to do parents, financially secure in their 40s-50s and with a plot of ancestral land, must be wonderful in either of this. Being old and retired in your villa is just the best experience in the world. Being a young parent without any property, looking to start your career, is literally almost impossible and definitely not worth it. That's why the birth rates are low and the young people are moving elsewhere.

As an Italian, this video is insanely accurate and the curious thing is that almost none of us can see the situation as clear as you did. Common mindset here is "everything sucks, take what you can in any way" or leave. And I relate with all the comments around here

I recently visited Italy and I had the best time of my life. Such a beautiful country with great food and great people. I hope it turns it around economically

I left Italy almost 10 years ago, one week after graduated, and everything it's still the same as I left it, if not worse. The country is not in stagnation, it's hibernated!

I studied my master's in italy with hopes of staying, however burocracy and elitism in the country make it way too hard for young foreigners to work in italy

IT'S NOT THE TAXES, BUT THE PEOPLE. As an Italian, who just spent one year in JAPAN, when I compare ROME to TOKYO, I see for the latter: clean streets, great pride in doing any kind of work, respect for other people properties, courtesy in offices and stores, etc.