Apprenticeship for vocational qualification and diploma, upper secondary education diploma and high technical specialisation certificate (Type 1)

Scheme name: Apprenticeship for vocational qualification and diploma, upper secondary education diploma and high technical specialisation certificate (Type 1)
Country: Italy

Duration: 3-4 years (min. 6 months and max 1-4 years depending on the qualification)
Apprentices remuneration - characteristics: Type: wage paid by employer; fixed amount per hour
Remuneration setting: centrally by law, by collective agreements and by individual contract.
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Employers pay apprentices the regular wages for the working hours. By law, the amount of the wage can be up to two levels lower than the wage of the corresponding employee or a proportionate % in relation to working seniority. The exact amount of apprentice wage is determined in the individual contract. By law, employers also have to pay 10% of the wage during the training for which employer is responsible (the training may take place in or outside the company). This percentage may be modified by National Collective Labour Agreements. Employers are not obliged to pay any wages during the training that is organised by and takes place at education and training provider (i.e. when the training is not company's responsibility).

Coverage: on-the-job training (and training outside the company if it is employer's responsibility)
Variation(s): by the year of apprenticeship and trade
Apprentices remuneration - amount: Average regulated remuneration: not available. It was estimated by the national experts that in the trade sector, the gross annual salary of a young newly hired apprentice, with a third tier rating, could be around EUR 20,000-22,000.
Level in PPS per year (average): 20,958.08 (trade sector, estimate)
Level in PPS per hour (average): not available
Share of national minimum wage: not applicable
Time foreseen for on-the job-training: Between 20-50% of the overall duration of apprenticeship
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The duration of on-the-job training is a subject to regulations at different levels. Each Region may decide on the minimum and maximum duration (out of 19 Regions and 2 Autonomous Provinces, only a few Regions have actually done so). In addition, it can be further regulated by collective agreements. Examples: for the subtype "ITS Paths", the Lombardy Region considers 750 hours of on-the-job training and Emilia-Romagna Region, 720/800 hours.

There is a distinction between work and training during in-company training. For the hours during the in-company training, the employee is paid a 10% salary (unless collective agreement provisions state otherwise).
Apprentice social insurance: Paid by: the employer and the apprentice. The apprentice pays 5.84% of taxable wage for social insurance and the employer pays between 3% and 10%, or pays no contribution if the company has 9 employees or fewer.
Rights: health, pension, annual leave, social insurance, social care, insurance cover for accidents at work and occupational diseases, illness, disability and old age, maternity, family allowance, unemployment (ASPI, social insurance for employment, in order to get unemployment benefit in case of dismissal), paid leave (88 hours per year for companies with fewer than 15 employees, 104 hours per year for companies with more than 15 employees).
Additional support for apprentice: Apprentices do not receive any financial support from the government.
Financing on-the-job training: The costs of on-the job training, including the apprentices wages, are covered by employers. The employers may benefit, however, from different tax incentives: reduction of the social security contribution for companies with 10 or more employees and total exemption for the companies with 9 employees or less, exemption from the payment of the unemployment contribution for craft enterprises, exemption from paying the levy (0.30% of the payroll) for continuing vocational training.
Financing off-the-job training: Public financing: EUR 14,234,859 (2014).
EU funds: 1,187,523 (2014)
Source: Isfol, Verso il sistema duale, Roma, luglio 2016
Financing of the scheme overall: Public financing (national resources): 20,888,755 (2015)
EU funds: 1,295,103 (2015)
Source: Isfol, Verso il sistema duale, Roma, luglio 2016
Illustration: sources of funding and financial flows
Assessment of financing arrangements: Tax incentives for apprenticeship allow companies to reduce their costs. However, in recent years there has been a strong decrease in the provision of apprenticeship places in Italy. One of the possible reasons is the introduction of other incentives for companies to promote the contracts other than apprenticeship (e.g. incentives for hiring with increasing protection contracts, introduced by the Jobs Act). This resulted in a crowding-out effect . For companies, it has become more convenient to hire young people through other contracts than apprenticeship, as the latter entails training courses that are generally perceived by companies as additional burden.
Contextual information: No statutory minimum wage
Average yearly working time (hours) for a full time job: 1,710

More on financing instruments for this scheme

Incentives for apprenticeship for vocational qualification and diploma, upper secondary education diploma and high technical specialisation certificate

Italy

Tax incentives

More on this apprenticeship scheme

Apprenticeship for vocational qualification and diploma, upper secondary education diploma and high technical specialisation certificate [Type 1]

Italy

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