Italy's GDP to grow 0.8% in 2015, study says

(ANSA) - Perugia, September 18 - Italy's GDP is expected to grow by 0.8% in 2015, according to a study by Confesercenti national retailers' association and REF research group released Friday on day one of the association's annual two-day convention. The estimated bump in GDP is linked to an increase in tourism, thanks to both Expo Milan and the upcoming opening in December of the Jubilee Year of Mercy. The study, titled "Outlook 2015-2017", estimated that international visitors to Italy will exceed 50 million in 2015, representing a 4% increase on last year. In addition to Expo and the Jubilee Year, the study said tourists are choosing Italy over other Mediterranean destinations that are currently experiencing political instability. GDP is estimated grow by 1% in both 2016 and 2017, the report said. Retail sales in 2015 showed signs of stability and the study said that the worst should be over, with the number of retail businesses estimated to increase by as much as 5,000 in 2017, the report said. The report categorized the outlook of new retail business growth as a "scene of progressive, although slow, repopulation of businesses, although with marked differences depending on the sector". The study said the labour situation is still very unstable, with part-time labour the only growth sector, up 23% since 2008. Confesercenti President Massimo Vivoli said the labour and business reform work of the Renzi government has been "admirable" but that it has "helped big and small businesses in inverse proportions". Vivoli said he wanted to "remind the government that individual businesses also create jobs and a consistent slice of GDP". "Let's think of them, too," he said, highlighting the need to also fight back against unregulated and illegal business activity. The Fornero pension law left young workers with one million fewer jobs, and led to a rapid increase in workers aged 55-65 years, according to the study, which said that age category has nearly one million more workers now, in 2015, than it did in 2010. Vivoli reiterated his willingness to give a contribution to youth employment, and proposed that labour contracts take into account generational turnover by allowing the possibility to "facilitate early voluntary retirement of the oldest workers, to hire younger workers in their place".