Tuesday, June 04, 2013

OECD urges Italy to cut labour taxes to ease unemployment

TRENTO: Lower labour taxes and measures to help young people find work are needed to help pull Italy out of recession, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's chief economist said on Sunday.

Pier Carlo Padoan said that with signs of an economic recovery in the United States and some emerging markets, Italy and other euro zone countries should make sure they join the trend.

"In this delicate phase, the government has to create the right conditions to help Italian companies sell more and hire," Padoan told Reuters on the sidelines of the annual "Economy Festival" in the northern city of Trento.

The OECD said last week the recession that has already lasted in Italy for seven straight quarters will extend to the end of the year before growth returns in 2014 when the economy will expand by 0.4 percent. Italy's economy will contract by 1.8 percent this year, it said.

Padoan urged Italy to reduce labour costs and improve training for the unemployed and young people approaching the labour market for the first time. Italy and other struggling euro zone members should be given some fiscal leeway by the European Commission to fund policies that help employment, he said.

"I recommend a golden rule that allows euro zone countries to exclude from the calculation of the budget deficit public spending aimed at creating new jobs," he said.

European leaders will meet on June 27-28 in Brussels and are expected to discuss how to tackle the rising jobless rate and youth unemployment.

Italy's Prime Minister Enrico Letta said on Saturday his government aims to reduce youth unemployment to below 30 percent in the next few years with a mixture of fiscal breaks and different contracts for young employees.

The youth jobless rate in the euro zone's third biggest economy reached its highest level on record in April, rising to 40.5 percent.

indiatimes.com

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