Italy: Bill proposal for a Universal service voucher

A new bill proposal aiming at introducing a Universal service voucher in Italy was presented to the Assembly last June.

This text was drafted by 57 Members of Parliament from the Democratic Party (PD), which is - the current President of the Italian Council - Matteo Renzi’s party. Strongly inspired by the French Chèque emploi service universel (CESU) and the Belgian Titres-services voucher, this system would improve the quality of PHS in Italy, while making them more affordable and fighting undeclared work in the sector.

The Censis - a renowned Italian research institute on socio-economics -  contributed to this bill by publishing a report assessing the potential impact of this new voucher on Italian Job market and public finances. The report shows this new voucher would be highly beneficial in terms of declared job creation (315 000 in 5 years) and would have high earn-back effects. Indeed, CENSIS estimates earn-back effects to almost 80% of the €3.500 millions yearly scheme cost for the State.

The bill proposal is available (in italian only) here.