In Italy, hard to get the kids to move out

The government is proposing incentives to get the nearly two-thirds of 30-somethings living with parents to set up shop on their own.

from the November 15, 2007 edition

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Italians have not always been bamboccioni. Figures show that in the 1960s, a period of sustained economic growth, the average age to move out of the family home was 26 among men and 23 among women – in line with the European average of 25. Not only were young people willing to emancipate themselves from their often conservative families; they were also able to. A young man could support his family with a factory wage.

Carlotta Maranesi, a young architect from Milan, says now most 30-somethings need to pay the first installment of their home loan with their parents' assistance, even for a studio apartment. "Where in the world could you possibly put a baby?" asks Ms. Maranesi, whose parents bought her a house she could not have afforded with her full-time job salary.

"I am a panda – a very rare species – among my generation, because I found a job at 23, right after graduation," says Paolo Catena, an engineer from Milan. Even so, he says, "I am moving out only because my grandma passed away and a house fell in my lap for free."

The age for leaving home started rising in the 1980s, when Italy struggled with economic stagnation. Now, with a GDP growth at 1.3 percent and unemployment about 12 percent, Italy, says Rosina, couples a rigid labor market with a weak safety net for the young.

Italy spent 0.5 percent of GDP on unemployment subsidies in 2004, compared with 2.8 in Denmark – the European country with the highest number of 20-year-olds living on their own, according to Eurostat, the EU's statistics branch.

Even timid attempts to shake up Italy's labor market typically result in large street protests. Reforming the welfare state is no easier. With almost 1 in 5 Italians above age 65, according to the Italian Statistics Institute, pensions and public health spending account for more than 20 percent of Italy's GDP. This leaves a thin slice for services such as housing and unemployment subsidies. As a result, in a society where families often need two salaries, public day-care centers are in short supply.

"You hear frequent complaints from Italian families that there are not enough spots for their children," says Nicole Winfield, an American journalist and mother in Rome, "If you can't pay hundreds of euros a month for a private center or a nanny, you are in bonds."

Italy is one of the most graying societies in the world. But surveys have found that only a minority of couples do not want children. Though birthrates fall short of the European average of 1.5 children per family, Italians say they want two children, a rate that, over time, would reestablish a replacement ratio between old and young generations.

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