Erika Malandra In 2024 a new peak was reached: 80.991 workers minors between 15 and 17 years old are active in Italy.
Child Workers in Italy, a Record That Makes Noise
A fact that comes straight from the third UNICEF Report, published on the occasion of the international day dedicated. Some numbers are painful: Trentino Alto Adige records 21,63% of minors involved, Valle D'Aosta 15,34%, Abruzzo 8,46%.
But what is most striking is the rapid and constant growth.
In 2021 there were 51.845. Then 69.601 in 2022. Then 78.530 in 2023. And today, the record. All accompanied by a surge in accidents at work of underage workers: from 5.816 in 2020 to 18.825 in 2023 only for minors between 15 and 17 years old. Six of these, fatal. Six lives interrupted.
The president of Unicef Italy, Nicola Graziano, recalled Article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Child labor should not exist. Not like this. Not in these numbers.
Underage workers in Italy, injuries and salaries under scrutiny
There is another side to the coin. And it is made of low wages and very high risks. Between 2019 and 2023, 330.864 accident reports were filed with Inail by underage workers under 19. More than half are children under 14. It's scary just to read it. The reports with fatal outcome? 84. Of which 73 in the 15-19 age group. The worst regions? Veneto, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont and Calabria.
Meanwhile, the average weekly income for a minor worker remains Bass. Males went from 297 euros in 2018 to 326 in 2023. Females from 235 to 262. A few hundred euros to risk too much.
And then we go back there, always there: to that article 32. To a promise. And to a reality that, looking at it today, is still very far away.