Statistics reveal prominence of 'Black Economy' in Italy

Significant figures were attributed to the category of 'illegal work'

 ROME -- Istat, the state-run statistics institute, show the ‘Black economy’ in Italy is very much active, having risen to a value of 211 billion in 2014, worth 13 percent of the national GNP, Il Fatto Quotidiano reported Friday.

 Today, there are around 3.5 million workers in Italy’s black market, 180, 000 more than compared to 2013, whilst the number attributed to the trafficking of drugs, prostitution and tobacco contraband amounts to 1 percent of the national GNP. According to Istat, this underground economy was worth 13 percent of the GNP in 2014.

 The overall total value is estimated at 211 billion, with 46.9 percent deriving from fiscal evasion. In 2013, a total of 206 million made up 12.9 percent of the GNP, whilst in 2011 the percentage was slightly lower at 12.4 percent.

 Hence, over three years, the overall value has increased by 0.6 percent.

 In 2014, the total number generated from solely the black market amounted to 194.4 billion euros, 12 percent of the GNP.

 Significant numbers were found within the category of ‘Illegal work’, related to the sector of ‘services to other people’, particularly connected to domestic work, agriculture, fishing, transport, construction and hospitality. In 2014, for example, the statistic for the number of people in such work stood at 3.6 million, up 180, 000 since the previous year. This ‘illegal work’ relates to posts usually done full time.

 In 2014, 46.9 percent of the total ‘submerged economy’ derived from the ‘under-declarations’ at the hands of economic operators. Then, 36.5 percent originated from ‘illegal work’, 6.6 percent from ‘other components’ (such as tips, rent and demand-offer integration), whilst 8 percent was attributed to illegal activity.

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