In recent years, Italy has made clear progress towards more modern employment programmes that better support the needs of jobseekers and employers across all regions. This is reflected in its labour market, which in 2025 enjoyed record high employment rates (62.5%), and record lows in unemployment (6.1%) and inactivity (33.3%). However, labour productivity still lags behind many of its G7 counterparts and Italy continues to seek ways to better connect people with good jobs. Regional variation in employment services quality, and the limited reach of its public employment services (PES) constitute major challenges that Italy has tried to address in recent years. Efforts made to combine public and private assistance, address barriers and better connect workers and employers, have contributed to the labour market performance seen today.
Italy’s progress is particularly evident in its largest recent initiative, the GOL programme. Since 2022, GOL has provided large‑scale, publicly funded employment services and training through a broad network of public and private providers. Jobseekers are given a choice of providers offering services in their region, with providers being able to offer their services if they fulfil the licensing requirements. GOL is particularly notable as a national framework that has been fully adopted across Italy’s regions and autonomous provinces while respecting Italy’s decentralised institutional framework for the provision of employment services and training. During its five‑year implementation, it is on track to have provided employment services to 3 million jobseekers – representing over 10% of Italy’s labour force.
Several features have underpinned the success of GOL. The use of profiling tools has enabled personalised support for jobseekers within a framework that is underpinned by harmonised pathways towards employment. The new system has enabled partnerships with a diverse network of providers and introduced promising digital platforms. The generous funding of the programme, coupled with strong engagement from the regions, has enabled a large number of jobseekers to benefit from a more intensive and personalised approach.
Lessons from other OECD countries offer several clear opportunities for further development, building on Italy’s GOL and progress in using private providers under an accreditation framework – to provide vital employment support. Successful models in other countries combine predictable multi-year funding, structured provider engagement, clear minimum service standards, and outcome‑based payment models that reward providers for achieving several types of outcomes. They empower jobseekers to make informed choices, simplify administrative processes and invest in “data systems” that support timely monitoring and evaluation. These approaches have the potential to create more accountable services, provide additional safeguards for vulnerable groups, and reduce regional disparities – key challenges still present in Italy’s system.
This report presents a proposal for a modified model of public-private partnership for employment service in Italy that retains the core, successful elements of GOL while addressing some important challenges and persistent weaknesses: fragmentation, uneven service quality, weak incentives and limited use of performance and data driven systems. The proposal is based on desk research as well as extensive consultations with stakeholders in both Italy and other OECD countries (including fact-finding meetings, a questionnaire distributed to every region, and several interactive workshops). The resulting proposal retains the standardised modules of services (LEP, Livelli Essenziali di Prestazione, “Essential Levels of Performance”), the existing quantitative and qualitative profiling tools and the cost structures as defined by the Standard Cost Units (UCS, Unità di Costo Standard), ensuring GOL’s supportive backbone remains. The proposal also takes into account Italy’s decentralised governance structure and adopts a pragmatic approach to systemic features that present challenges in Italy. It suggests frameworks at national and regional levels to engage with providers and address the challenges posed by the fragmented region-specific system of provider accreditation. The central elements of the new model are designed to align well with the existing legal framework in Italy.
The model proposed in this report spans three core areas:
First, the model proposes to strengthen the underlying framework for public-private partnership in employment service delivery in Italy. It proposes to implement a stable funding system combining national and EU resources in a multi-year framework. This would guarantee minimum service levels even outside major funding cycles, allowing providers to plan and invest in capacity. A national Provider Council would institutionalise regular consultations about programme design and implementation. Additional national standards on minimal meeting frequencies would strengthen a common baseline for support provision while allowing regional variation above the minimum.
Second, the proposed model aims to improve efficiency and targeting. This includes lowering the administrative burden and simplifying reporting for providers. The introduction of joint reporting responsibilities for providers and jobseekers should standardise and share obligations between them. A digital-first pathway for job-ready, digitally literate jobseekers would steer them to self-service tools. This would free up counsellors in local employment offices to dedicate more time to jobseekers with more complex needs. For people further from the labour market, interim outcomes would serve as “guardrails”, providing motivation and preventing disengagement during longer pathways towards employment.
Third, the model proposes mechanisms to strengthen providers’ incentives, accountability and performance. It proposes to increase the share of payments tied to sustained employment outcomes and introduce payments for training milestones and progress for harder-to-place groups. Providers demonstrating high performance may be eligible for additional bonuses. Improved data exchange is envisaged, most notably on provider-participant interactions and employment outcomes. This would simplify verifying outcome‑based payments to providers. It would also help jobseekers to make better informed choices based on provider performance. Authorities would be able to monitor, engage and mentor providers more effectively. Regions would be mandated to conduct (or commission) rigorous counterfactual impact evaluations. This would provide important information to gauge individual provider performance and establish a solid evidence base for future modifications to the system.
The proposed model lays the framework for an enhanced public-private partnership in employment service delivery. It will be important for Italy to draw together its key stakeholders across national and regional governments, and private sector partners to test and pilot the new model. Learning from implementation and adapting policy design as evidence emerges will enable the final model to be adapted to operational realities. It can then be rolled out nationally in a way that is flexible and responsive to local and national labour market conditions.