How Italy’s Job Market Beats the U.S.

Italy’s economic performance is typically viewed as among the weakest in the developed world. Yet by some measures, its workers are actually better off than those in America -- a reality that raises important questions about the functioning of the U.S. job market.

Compared with other developed countries, the U.S. is doing a middling job of providing people in their prime working years with employment. Consider the share of people aged 25 to 54 who have a job in the U.S., Canada, Germany and Italy. I’ve chosen these countries because Canada’s economy has many similarities to the U.S., Germany is seen as one of the strongest job creators in Europe, and Italy is seen as one of the weakest. As the chart below shows, U.S. prime-age employment beats Italy, but falls short of Canada and Germany (the data, from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, are for 2015):