Local authorities staff. The Southern regions compared with the North-Centre of Italy

The paper analyzes how the characteristics of the employees of the local governments in the Southern regions of Italy have changed compared to those of the North-Centre over the last decade. The implementation of rigorous legislation to contain personnel costs and limit turnover, which caused a sharp reduction in local governments’ staff between 2008 (the year of maximum expansion) and 2019, was more intense in the Southern regions. The analysis shows a convergence between the two macro areas in terms of workforce size and costs; however there are still strong regional differences in employees’ seniority, education, professional qualifications and contractual schemes. These differences are mostly due to a lower turnover and an intensive conversion of precarious work to permanent employment in the South, thus delaying the hiring of personnel with better qualifications and skills. The skill deficit of the employees of Southern local authorities render them less well equipped than those in the rest of the country to tackle the challenges posed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.